The off-road notification system of the DVLA is in disarray due to administrative chaos and the fact that is not legally enforceable. In fact, two court cases that have recently been settled suggest that the DVLA may be unlawfully acting against cars parked off-road, and does not really have any power over motorists, at least not in the way it thinks that it has.
The first case occurred in October of 2009 in the Clerkenwell District Court, with the DVLA believing that it could get a judgment against James Collins, on the grounds that he did not tell them when he removed his vehicle from the road.
Collins said that he had told them and it was not his fault if they could not find his details and to the surprise of many the judge ruled that the DVLA was in the wrong and Collins was told simply to resend his details to the DVLA.
Collins was able to win his case due to some research that he did in advance that showed the DVLA had the ability to lose internal mail, and then made use of a Freedom of Information request in order to establish that they did not keep track of which communications were sent to which individuals.
The other case was against Duncan Peck who was also a farce, with the case of a lost in Horsham Country Court. The DVLA claimed that he had not received notification, and that Peck had set the information later, but it was too late, and he should have checked after not receiving a formal acknowledgment. However, the DVLA lost due to the fact they do not have the power to make people call them.
