A car tax conviction against Mayor of London Lord Sadiq Khan has been formally withdrawn by the DVLA after he fell victim to a “scam” which saw him fined for not taxing a 24-year-old Nissan Micra.
The Labour politician, 55, was prosecuted last month by the DVLA for keeping an unlicensed vehicle and was handed a £220 fine by a court in Herefordshire, after the case was dealt with in private in a fast-track court process.
Case reopened and withdrawn
When the criminal case was highlighted to the mayor this week by the Press Association, City Hall insisted the Nissan Micra does not belong to Lord Khan of Tooting, it has been wrongly registered in his name, and he had fallen victim to a “scam”.
In a magistrates’ court hearing at Hereford Justice Centre on Thursday, the case was formally reopened against the mayor and withdrawn by a panel of magistrates after a request from the DVLA.
Neither the mayor nor a representative from the DVLA were present at the court for the one-minute hearing.
The legal advisor told the panel of magistrates they may be aware of the case as it was “widely publicised” on Wednesday, adding: “The DVLA have requested that the original matter, if you consider it to be reopened, be marked withdrawn.”
Chairwoman of the bench Mrs Digings JP said: “We accept the reopening of the case as requested.
“Further to the request from the DVLA, we are going to mark the matter as withdrawn.”
The DVLA says it is still investigating the circumstances of the case and it issued a statement after the court hearing to say: “Following review the case has been withdrawn.”
Background to the prosecution
Prior to the case being heard, a court official told the Press Association the magistrates’ court did not usually deal with DVLA hearings on Thursdays but the mayor’s case had been added to the list on Wednesday.
After Lord Khan expanded the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to cover the whole of London he faced a wave of protests, including from motorists who said they planned to register their car in the mayor’s name – supposedly to make him liable for the £12.50 daily charge.
The prosecution against the mayor was brought by the DVLA through the Single Justice Procedure (SJP), a controversial fast-track court process which allows magistrates to sit in private to deal with low-level criminal cases.
The mayor, who became Baron Khan of Tooting after he was appointed to the House of Lords in July, was found guilty by a magistrate on August 18 after no plea was entered to the charge, and he was ordered to pay a £220 fine, £85 in costs, and settle the £35.84 bill for unpaid tax on the Micra.
Court documents also show that DVLA letters addressed to the mayor about the unpaid tax bill were sent to Gordon Ramsay’s east London restaurant, instead of the nearby TfL offices.
The DVLA, which uses the SJP system to prosecute thousands of people every week over unpaid car tax and insurance bills, has so far refused to provide an explanation for how it ended up prosecuting Mayor Khan.
It is understood that the agency relies on motorists to provide accurate details for their vehicles, while it is a criminal offence to deliberately provide false or misleading vehicle registration details.
The mayor was prosecuted by the DVLA after the annual tax on the blue Nissan Micra, which was first registered in 2002, ran out in September last year.
The DVLA accused Lord Khan of being the keeper of the vehicle when it was spotted as being untaxed on January 24, telling the court that his name and date of birth appear against the car on official records held by the Government.
The agency said a letter asking for confirmation of the identity of the car owner went unanswered in January, leading to a criminal prosecution.
