How should I conduct myself in a UK magistrate&#39;s court? The background on this is that I sold my first motor vehicle to a scrap yard to be disassembled for parts and/or sold. Unfortunately for whatever reason the V5 form (official document providing proof of registration of a motor vehicle) must have not found its way to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and as such I have remained the registered keeper of the car even though the vehicle is no longer in my possession. Approximately four months ago I received a letter from the DVLA informing me that said car I had sold was uninsured, and I must pay a £100 fine. Unfortunately I did not take the initial letter seriously and put it to the back of my mind. I then received a second letter pushing the urgency of the matter and threatening with court. At this point I rang the DVLA where a helpful woman told me the only way I can get around this was to write a letter to the DVLA explaining the situation. She also outlined a list of points to include. I promptly wrote said letter and had it sent by Royal Mail as second class postage. This week I have received a third and final letter summoning me to my local magistrate's court. I have already sought out the scrap company and they have written an email confirming the car was purchased by them 3 months before the DVLA have the vehicle as being registered uninsured. I will also be writing to them again whilst sending in my "not guilty" plea. I have already suggested I will pay the fine in return for them updating their records but I have been told this is no longer an option. I have a couple of questions regarding this whole ordeal: Will an email document be evidence enough? Should I go to the scrapyard in person and ask for a signed hand-written document basically outlining exactly what was said in the email or will this be a pointless endeavor? Exactly how should I conduct myself in the magistrates court? I have no idea how the proceedings go, even basic things such as how do I address the judge and basic guidance on how to conduct myself in the court room? Any guidance will be appreciated, I may seek out a solicitor but as a young adult who has just moved into my first home the purse strings are tight at the minute and I am unsure if this step is even entirely necessary.
Dress respectably. Don't forget any documents (either those that support your explanation, or that you might have been instructed to bring). Printed Emails are fine unless you have been instructed otherwise. Arrive at the court on time and prepared to follow instructions and be respectful. Beyond that nobody expects that someone entering a magisterial court for the first time will be familiar with customs or process. If you're sitting in the wrong place, not standing at the right time, or touching something you're not supposed to, then a court officer will tell you; just follow directions and it's no problem. Address officers as "sir" or "ma'am" unless they ask you to call them something else. If you have a question ask any officer. If you are unsure of what is going on &ndash; what you are being charged with, what is at stake, what the purpose of the hearing is &ndash; then call the court ahead of time and ask. It sounds like this is an administrative issue and the only thing at stake is a few hundred pounds in fines. If that is in fact the case then hiring a solicitor would be silly.
Yes, you would be responsible. Maintaining the vehicle in a state that enables compliance with the law is the owner's responsibility, and it is a driver's responsibility to comply with the speed limit. There is no knowledge or intent requirement in a speeding violation. That said, a judge might show leniency if you came to court with documentation of a repair or recalibration of the speedometer after the citation.
It appears that title changes when both the seller and the buyer sign the reverse side of the vehicle registration certificate. While a vehicle registration with the government is prima facie evidence that a vehicle is owned by the person indicated in the register of the transportation department, Section 140(2) of the Finance Act (1992) under which Ireland's current vehicle registration system was established effective January 1, 1993 (ignoring grandfathered cases) states that this is a rebuttable presumption of ownership only. Nothing in the regulations issued pursuant to the Finance Act states otherwise, and there is language in one of the forms reproduced in a schedule to the regulations which seems to state that registration is something that one must do promptly upon a change in ownership, rather than change of ownership being something that only actually happens upon a change in registration. This is a deviation from the common law that was subsequently codified in the law of sales for untitled tangible personal property, in which title transfers upon delivery of the goods, or if it is covered by a document such as a negotiable warehouse receipt, upon deliver of a negotiated (i.e. signed) warehouse receipt. Likewise, the historical rule for transfer of real property before ownership registration was established for it, was &quot;signed, sealed, and delivered&quot; meaning that a deed had to be signed by the seller, notarized, and delivered to the buyer or the buyer's agent, for title to be transferred. Generally speaking, when property is represented by an ownership certificate or is intangible, transfer of the certificate or relevant document, rather than physical possession, governs transfer of title (before real property records were formalized and bureaucratized, one had to deliver constructive possession of real property with &quot;livery of seisen&quot; by handing over a rock or dirt or twig from the real property to the buyer to signify delivery of possession of real property, the modern equivalent of which would have been to hand over keys to a building). But, the Finance Act and the associated regulations and forms seem to make clear that you need to have both parties, rather than merely the seller (under this historical rule and the rule in most U.S. jurisdictions), sign the relevant form to transfer title. The question is, at what point does the car actually become mine? The reason I ask is that my insurance policy covers me to drive a car of the specified registration (not the one I just bought) and any other car not owned by me. So if I own the car the moment I hand over the money, I am suddenly not insured to drive it home! But if I own it when the government dept. process the form (or when the seller posts it), I probably have a day to get in touch with the insurance provider to change the coverage to the new car (e.g. if the sale is outside of business hours) My suspicion is that this issue is addressed not by the time that title transfers itself, but by a clause in a standard form car insurance contract in Ireland. There is probably a &quot;tail&quot; provision that extends the previous owner's insurance coverage until the registration is processed if it is processed within a reasonable time. But, I don't have the full text of an Irish car insurance policy contract at my disposal to review in order to confirm that fact. You could probably read the terms of your current car insurance policy contract, if you have one, and determine the answer, as this is likely to be effectively uniform for all car insurance policies in Ireland. Or, as @chepnor notes in the comments, &quot;if you call your insurance company ahead of time and tell them you will be purchasing the car. They'll tell you how to ensure you are covered.&quot;
I was told that when you sign something in the UK, then it is your signature, no matter what name you are using. So if you sign a contract with my name, then it's your signature and you are bound by the contract. Things might be invalid because you signed and not me. For example, if you sign a contract selling my car in my name, then that contract is not valid. If some document needs signatures of two witnesses, and you sign with your name, then with my name, then there are no two signatures. As far as I know, signing under a false name is not in itself criminal, but might very well be supporting fraud, for example, and might therefore be illegal. The contract for the sale of my car, signed by you using my name, would very likely be part of fraud and therefore criminal.
There's a good answer in this thread by Trap_Door_Spiders Assuming the car was really stolen, not &quot;stolen&quot; in the sense my friend borrowed it and never gave it back, you could absolutely recover the car. The reason you could, is because you can't steal your own property. Theft is very specifically the taking of ANOTHER's property. Here the property and the title to it has remained with you, because it was stolen. A thief never gets title in stolen property--it's called a void title. A void title is no rights at all as compared to a voidable title which has no rights against the true owner, unless you are subsequent transferee for value without notice (Bona Fide Purchaser). Now we can even take this slightly further. Imagine our thief stole your car and now sold it to Hapless John and all the remaining facts are the same, can you still take the car? Yes, because title in property tracks from the seller of the property. You can only over transfer as good a title as you have in the property. So thief has a void title. When he sold Hapless John the car he transferred a void title, which is no interest at all. So when you see the car and take it back, Hapless John calls the police and reports it stolen too. As long as you could demonstrate it was stolen first, that's the end of the issue. Hapless John has to go find the thief and get his money from thief. Now obviously this all assumes you see the car on say a street or whatever. If you saw it saw it in a driveway, you could end up being charged with trespass unless your state privileges the recovery of stolen property by peaceable means. You still wouldn't be liable for theft, because of the void title, but you can get the other charges. All that said, you are better off having the police come and assist you. If you are even slightly wrong you get hit with the full force of the consequences. It's better just to have a police officer come and assist from a criminal liability stand point.
It might be illegal, depending on where you are. If it is known to the person who owns the vehicle occupying your space prior to doing so that wheelclamping may be the result, then the common law doctrine of volenti non fit injuria ("to a willing party, harm is not done") would lead to a conclusion that one who knowingly places themselves in a situation where harm may befall them is not entitled to bring a claim of tort against the other party (in the United States assumption of risk is a similar doctrine, but doesn't apply here because wheelclamping is an intentional act). In your situation, this means that the owner occupying your space cannot bring a case in tort against you. While it is generally applied to harm to people, there is precedent (albeit in British case law) for the doctrine to be applied to vehicles, and specifically, to the situation you describe - see Arthur v Anker and Vine v London Borough of Waltham Forest. While cases from other jurisdictions are not binding, I have not been able to find any similar cases in the United States, and so it is possible that such cases will be persuasive. Note that this is highly jurisdiction-specific, and there may be laws in your state that make it unlawful - at least one high-profile case involving a McDonalds and its parking lot operator cites California law authorising only law enforcement to impound vehicles, and considering wheelclamping such an act. However, I have not been able to find the record of a judgement on this matter. It is also likely that if the payment you request is excessive, the owner would be able to seek relief, in the form of reducing the payment owed to a reasonable amount. However, if the parking space was not marked in some way to signal that it was reserved for use, then the owner of the vehicle may be entitled to seek injunctive relief and damages from a court. This would be on the basis of, if you only wheelclamped the car and declined to remove the wheelclamp upon the owner's request, the tort of detinue. But, if you attempted to request payment from them, then as Dale mentioned in his answer, you have committed extortion (wheelclamping is actually listed as a crime of extortion).
It is their property, so keeping it without permission could well be seen as theft. I think you are obliged to make reasonable attempts to notify them you have their property before using it or selling it. Just like if someone left the item at your house after a party. If they want it back, however, it is at their cost, you should not be out of pocket for their failure to deliver within a reasonable time-frame; you may find they've already claimed the cost of the product from the courier and don't want it back. You are well within your rights to offer to buy it from them, and them to accept or reject that offer, this is a separate contract to the original sale.
This is not a place for specific legal advice, but you shouldn't be afraid of the small claims court; I'm doing that myself and it really is a low-risk and straightforward way to get money that is owed to you. Step 1: Get the boiler repaired or replaced as necessary. Keep the receipts. Don't be tempted to get an upgrade or anything else to push expenses that are legitimately yours on to the other party; find out what the cheapest thing is that you can reasonably do to fix the problem and then do that. Step 2: Write a letter to the seller in which you set out the facts of the case and demand the cost of the repairs. Also include any other expenses you have had to incur, like money for your time off work while the repair is done. End it with "If you do not agree to pay this money within one month then I will take action in the county court to recover the money". Send it by recorded delivery and include a copy of the repair receipt (NOT the original). Step 3: If you do not get your money then go here and follow the instructions. You have to pay an up-front fee to the court which gets added on to the amount you are claiming. That is the only money you are putting at risk if you lose. The whole thing is as informal and straightforward as possible, and is purposely designed so that you don't need a lawyer, nor can you or the other side claim for the cost of a lawyer if you win. This is why your lawyer is pushing you to do this by yourself: he knows that his fees would be out of proportion to the amount in question, and you wouldn't be able to get that money back even if you won. The only other wrinkle is if the other party has moved far away: in general if a hearing is needed then it will be held near them rather than near you, so you might have to travel.