Mother convicted over unpaid £8.75 car tax bill while grieving death of baby in latest fast-track justice outrage
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/dvla-mother-baby-death-car-tax-single-justice-procedure-scandal-labour-b1226747.html
Posted by F0urLeafCl0ver
11 Comments
Enough with the rage bait.
You’re given plenty of time and multiple reminders.
Yeah, tax, obligations etc. suck but none of us get to just opt out of life – I don’t want to pay my mortgage.
I got stuff in my life too, so do you.
The flip side of this is that cases are being set for 2027 or 2028.
What difference would it really make if they took longer to issue the fine
Nice to see an investigation that clearly defines where the fault original lies (previous Government, underfunding) but still seeks to hold the current Government to account for not at least having a plan yet to sort it out.
Cases like this for trivial amounts should never come to criminal court in any form, regardless of mitigation. It should have taken someone less than 5 seconds to look at this and realise that the prosecution was in no one’s interest. I’d like to know how much was wasted – but I suspect it cost more in postage alone than they were seeking.
The amount they gained by double charging for cars for the month they are sold would easily cover the occasional small amount like this.
Why are these things like this being dealt with like this behind closed doors rather than openly in the magistrates court?
Are we too short of magistrates or something?
How was 8.75 in car tax ever in the public interest to prosecute?
A lot of people seem to misunderstand what fast track cases are for: situations like this. You get a criminal conviction that is immediately discharged so doesn’t matter, you’re fined a few quid and the case is closed. It’s arguably better than dragging you to court in grief.
The butterfly is always broken on the wheel of justice but if we could all get over ourselves and accept, “yes you’re ’a criminal’, along with a third of the adult population,” it’s a relatively efficient way of dealing with nonsense.
Does this fast track justice ever get the junkies who walk out of my local co-op with a trolley of Stella? Every week. No? Colour me surprised. Sort this shit out please Government.
Fast-track justice is caused by politicians and their ever expanding net of criminalization. 100,000+ prosecutions a year revolve around TV license payments, simply paying the BBC via tax would save billions in £s and court time.
Do we still need car tax? It seems inefficient when fuel is already taxed, and more difficult to evade. If it was abolished, and the revenue made up with fuel tax increases (or a one-off purchase tax for electric vehicles), we wouldn’t have sad stories of this particular sort, or the enforcement/administration costs.
If you read the article –
When a case is dealt with by SJP, prosecutors – like the DVLA – do not routinely see key information contained in letters of mitigation, missing the chance to withdraw cases that do not appear to be in the public interest.
Funny how they can fast track things when it suits them. Utterly ridiculous. It’s £8.75. Get me her details and I’ll pay the fucking thing myself.