I’ve already confessed to the DVLA and spoken to them a couple of times since I’ve realised.
The circle goes around and around as they won’t tax it without me having the V5, they need a postcode to send a V5 to and they can’t update a postcode without a V62 which takes them 2 to 6 weeks to process.
The penalty I face I can’t yet be sure of. It’s £80 if you’re detected by ANPR (plus tax), reducing to £40 for prompt payment and a maximum of £1000 if it goes to court.
The penalty for driving in France without proof of ownership is 130 euros, reducing to 80 for prompt payment.
Maybe naively but because it’s system generated and if I’ve not been detected by ANPR I’ll just get my first reminder notice and pay for my tax, which would be ridiculous.
In case it’s unclear, I have sent the V62 and have tried to pay for the tax. But they will not accept my money until they’ve looked at the v62 for 6 weeks.