I’ve just had a letter through from Derbyshire police about a speeding fine and prosecution from 7th October this year.

Issue is that I sold the car end of May 2011, the police know I don’t own the car, but don’t know who does and want me to provide the name and address of the person who bought it! Which I don’t have!

I’ve checked and the car is taxed until 1st December 2012, so the DVLA must know the name and address of the current owner?

Tried to call them, but they don’t open at the weekend. Any advice?

The police know you don’t own the car, so can’t see there being any issues.

Tell them you don’t have the details of the new owner anymore. And let them deal with the rest.

No real reason why you should be chasing the DVLA on behalf of the police.

The police will have got the contact details from the DVLA.. which implies that the details on file are still in your name. Did you send off the V5 for change of keeper when you sold the car?

As above – the Police wouldn’t be chasing you if they knew someone else owned it. Sounds like new owner’s details aren’t with the DVLA.

Did you not send off the V5C when you sold it?

Sent off the V5, so not sure why it could be in my name! Also the fact it has been taxed since I sold it, and obviously not by me should mean the DVLA must know who owns it?

When you send the V5 off, you get a confirmation letter back a few weeks later saying ‘You are no longer the registered keeper of the vehicle’. If you didn’t get this, then you’re probably still down as the keeper.

When you sell a car, it’s the seller’s responsibility to inform the DVLA. If you do not receive the change of ownership confirmation letter and a fine is issued to that car, it is up to you to prove you were not in charge of the car at the time. If you cannot prove this, you are responsible for the fine.
Standard way is to produce a bank statement/receipt showing you were in a different part of the country at the time of the offence.

had this . say i sold it heres the proof ( the last i sent a link to ebay) never heard anything else

Just Because they have taxed it doen’t mean the DVLA know. They could have taxed it with the tear off slip you give the new keeper. So long as it had an MOT at the time and was covered by insurance they can do it at a post office.

If it was covered by an explicit policy the police will be able to track it down, Though if it’s a dealer under a blanket policy i’m not sure if they could.

Sounds like the DVLA/royal mail have misplaced the V5. The new owner could have taxed the car with an MOT slip, new owner bit and an insurance certificate.

actually, did you get a reminder for the tax? The DVLA will send the reminder to the address on file. If you didn’t then they have messed up somewhere.

Don’t know if it still works this way but at one time checking a reg on PNC could give the result “No current keeper, prev keeper has informed DVLA no longer keeper”. Seemed to be the situation where seller informs DVLA but buyer doesn’t. DVLA won’t list a new keeper until informed by new keeper but will update the record to show seller is no longer keeper.

In this case OP has nothing to worry about. Police will have to chase up DVLA to get details from the part of V5 OP returned or trace new keeper by other means.

I doubt (based on no experience or knowledge 😉 ) the OP s going to get hammered, but it might be useful to start chasing down any sort of paperwork that can back up your story about having sold it e.g. eBay listing emails, emails to/from seller, date you cancelled insurance, bank deposit showing £xxxx being paid in etc.

Reading my tax Renewal form i Need to take the reminder form – if i dont have it i have to get and send some form from the post office before i can renew .

Reading my tax Renewal form i Need to take the reminder form – if i dont have it i have to get and send some form from the post office before i can renew .

for a short while the tear-off section of the v5 will suffice – if it was re-taxed a few months after sale you can do that with the slip, 6 months or so after sale you can’t (as I found out to my lengthy and costly experience when the DVLA failed to send me a v5 and it took over a month with a vehicle untaxed and off the road and hiring replacements for them to send a new one)

The new owner might not yet be aware that there’s a problem and maybe wouldn’t know until the next time the tax is due.

The police can check the insurance on the vehicle. If it has some then that is a starter for 10. If they know you’re not the registered keeper then surely they have to prove it was you driving it? I know that if you are the keeper you have to prove you weren’t driving.

Thanks for the input guys.

After readying on the Direct.gov website to tax your car you must bring a V5 and proof of insurance, or a new owner bit of the v5.

The fact that the Tax runs out December 1st 2012, and I sold the car 20th May 2011 should mean that if the DVLA don’t have the new owners name & address, it should be at least on the police insurance database?

Anyway, guess we’ll see what they say on Monday.

I’ve got a letter from the insurance company say the policy is cancelled, can provide proof when the money went into my account (although it was cash) and i’m sure the advert may be saved on an Autotrader database somewhere.

I’d imagine this kind of this must happen all the time?

will – Member

Issue is that I sold the car end of May 2011, the police know I don’t own the car,

This is all you need to know. As long as you have fulfilled duty as a seller with regards to filling out the log book and sending it off then you have nothing to worry about.

Not your problem basically.

Not entirally in line with the OP, but my mate PXed a Car last October and left the tax on as part of the deal.

This was to a Garage and he was shocked to say the least when he got a fine around May this year of £50 saying the car wasnt taxed.

Despite arguing with DVLA, because he hadnt recieved the letter saying he was no longer resonsible for the car, he ended up paying the fine.

To top it all he paid over the phone and they didnt take his payment and he then ended up with £100 fine !!!

Well I spoke to the police earlier who were very helpful.

Told them the situation, and the woman seemed very understanding, said it’s not a surprise I don’t know who the current owner is after 15 or so months!

She said i’ve done all I can, and that it’s down to them to find the current owner. That’s a relief 😆

Was the letter an s172 request..

This is the request to name/nominate the driver for prosicution
Failure to give details is a £500 and a really nasty endorsment code on your DL which leads to a very large insurance hike..

If you’ve had this you have to fill it in.
If it was just a letter don’t worry.

Pepipoo is a very helpful website for this stuff.