Expensive and embarrassing day

[Del Lardo]

Wondering out to my car yesterday afternoon after the works Christmas party I noticed that my tax disc was out of date and quietly swore at myself for thinking it was due the end of this month rather than the start. Driving back to Cambridge round the M25 when a Police car pulls onto the motorway in front of me doing the usual 60mph and I comment to Klara that it's the first time I've seen a Police car on the motorway in ages (a good thing as well as I'm normally doing 80-90mph) as I crawl past him at 70. Two minutes later the blues come on and I realise that their posh camera system has probably flagged my lack of tax. I pull over and get the usual warning but as I'm clearly guilty there's no point in bull****ing, explain it was a error on my part and promise to get it sorted when I get home. He tells me to wait and wanders back to his car and starts writing tickets. After about 10 minutes he comes back and gives me a ticket for no tax, £60! I'm mildly annoyed at this but I can live with £60 so again promise to get the tax sorted when I get home only to be told that I won't and that my MOT ran out on December 6th Another £60 fine!

So I'm £120 down and still need to spend another £170 to get it all sorted, not really what I need a week before Christmas. Pretty pissed off but mainly with myself, my Lotus tax was due Jan and I had it in my head that the Mundano was the same. As for the MOT I thought it had a year when I bought it so I was OK till May/June.

Still as much as I hate to admit it I doubt I'll forget again though I am a (generally) law abiding, tax paying, honest chap so I am a nice easy target.

[Kell_ee001]

Originally Posted by Kitten

balls So annoying when you're not taking the p*** and doing it on purpose too

Just what I was thinking although at least DL doesn't sound too bitter about it. It's a bugger but we all know they're just doing their job at the end of the day.

[lostkat]

Ouch!!! No nice at all. Make sure you write on the calendar next time when it's up. My MOT and Tax fall at the same time, which happpens to be end of December so although it's really quite crap and the worst possible time for it all to run out, at least I shouldn't forget about it. Just re-done my tax online though. Thanks for reminding me

[jmc41]

Darn, that is not good at any time let alone a week before Christmas :-(

Talk about unlucky :s

[Joe 90]

this is why i don't like the law - no mercy for the decent man...

but then they'll do stuff like this for the criminals...

A convicted criminal has moved in with a married couple against their wishes after giving their address in court as his home.

Shane Sims, 19, has spent the last few days living with Brenda and Robert Cole after he was sentenced to a week's curfew for breaching a supervision order.

But the couple claim the first they knew about it was when Sims, a friend of their daughter, moved in on Thursday – followed by security contractors who put a box in a bedroom to monitor his movements with an ankle tag.

Mrs Cole, 47, said: 'It's turned our lives upside down. He's taken over the whole place. He sprawls across the sofa and he's always in the bathroom when you need it. It's an absolute disgrace. They've let a criminal come into our home and there is nothing we can do about it.'

Sims appeared before magistrates last Thursday where he admitted breaching a two-year supervision order imposed for assault.

He gave the Coles' Bristol address as his bail address but the Probation Service did not verify it.

Sims claims he was told he could stay by the Coles' 16-year-old daughter Tanya after he fell out with his father.

He allegedly told Mrs Cole: 'I'm staying here until the tag's off. There's f**k all you can do about it. The courts have told me to.'

The court said it was looking into the situation but police said they could not act without a court warrant.

that was in the metro today btw.

[Toby]

Feel for you. I'm actually very glad I don't have to worry about things like MOT, tax & insurance as I'd never remember them - I have enough trouble remembering my own birthday half the time.

[Pickers]

Originally Posted by |Show|

this is why i don't like the law - no mercy for the decent man...

Hmmm I just wonder how you expect the police to be able to tell an honest person from someone trying to pull a fast one?

Consistency is required, unfortunately rules are rules. If DL had an accident after the policeman showed 'mercy' and didn't book him, there would have been untold amounts of **** to sort out.

[lostkat]

I have to say, I agree with Pickers. It doesn't take much effort to pretend you've completely forgotten about your tax/MOT and get off even if you knew but just hadn't bothered doing it. It's a right **** and it's unlucky if you do forget to renew, but if you get caught then hard lines. That's how I see me points. Bastard that I got caught, but I was doing the speed so I can't really complain at getting them.

MOT passed on Friday and tax disc received last week. That's me clear for another 6 months.

[Del Lardo]

Originally Posted by Pickers

Hmmm I just wonder how you expect the police to be able to tell an honest person from someone trying to pull a fast one?

Consistency is required, unfortunately rules are rules.

While a small part of my brain was pished off at not being let off the fines for making a mistake rather than a concious decision I fully realise that the chap was just doing his job so I've just paid the fines to be done with it.

It has got me thinking about the fines though. The £60 fines are mildly annoying but even at this time of year not really an issue for me where as there are plenty of equally generally law abiding people out there who would have a lot of trouble paying the fines. Now while I'm not in favour of means tested fines (because then I'd end up paying a lot more ) it does seem that depending on your income the punishment will have a very different effect and to me that doesn't seem very fair or consistent.