A car tax conviction against London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been withdrawn after the DVLA requested it, citing a scam. Khan was fined for an unlicensed vehicle that City Hall states did not belong to him.
The case highlights potential flaws in the Single Justice Procedure and raises questions about the DVLA's prosecution practices, particularly when dealing with high-profile individuals and potential scams.
A car tax conviction against London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been formally withdrawn after the DVLA requested the case be marked as withdrawn. City Hall stated Khan was the victim of a scam and should not have been prosecuted.
The Mayor of London was prosecuted last month for keeping an unlicensed vehicle and was handed a £220 fine by a court in Herefordshire, after the case was dealt with privately in a fast-track court process. When the criminal case was highlighted to the mayor this week, City Hall insisted the 24-year-old Nissan Micra does not belong to Sadiq Khan, and he had fallen victim to a "scam".
In a strongly worded statement, a spokesperson for the mayor said he is the victim in this case and should not have been prosecuted and convicted. "This is a scam, which is a crime," the spokesperson said. "It's not the first time the mayor has been a victim of a scam involving people falsely stating that Sadiq is the owner of a vehicle." Such behaviour is illegal, and the DVLA are aware.
In a court hearing at Hereford Justice Centre, the case was formally reopened against the mayor and withdrawn by a panel of magistrates after a request from the DVLA.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on Wednesday, adding: "The DVLA have requested that the original matter, if you consider it to be reopened, be marked withdrawn."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 Further to the request from the DVLA, we are going to mark the matter as withdrawn."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 prosecution against the mayor was brought by the DVLA through the Single Justice Procedure, a controversial fast-track court process which allows magistrates to sit in private to deal with low-level criminal cases. The mayor 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 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.