A housebound and partially blind 83-year-old pensioner has been hauled into court after failing to tax her late husband’s car while grieving his death.
The elderly woman, who has never driven, was prosecuted by the DVLA over an unpaid bill on a Volkswagen Touran after it was transferred into her name last April.
The pensioner told the court she did not understand the rules around car ownership as her husband had taken care of all the bills during their 64-year marriage.
She said the VW had been put in her name by her daughter’s partner in the hope it could be used to take her to hospital appointments in the future, but she never used the car and it has now been scrapped.
Details of the case were heard in the controversial Single Justice Procedure (SJP), a fast-track court process used for low-level criminal cases.
The widow, from Reading, was convicted after sending in a guilty plea in writing.
She wrote in her letter: ‘My husband of 64 years passed away on December 30, 2024, at which time he was the registered keeper of the vehicle.
A housebound and partially blind 83-year-old pensioner has been hauled into court after failing to tax her late husband’s car (Birmingham Magistrates’ Court is pictured)
‘Subsequently the vehicle was transferred to my name by my daughter’s partner in early April last year, as the hope was that I may one day benefit from using the vehicle to go to hospital appointments etc.
‘Although this gesture was in good faith, I did not really understand my responsibilities for the vehicle, as my late husband took care of such matters, all our married life.
‘I do not drive and have several disabilities that cause me to be housebound (including being partially sighted) and therefore, never understood that I was the registered keeper, with the responsibilities this brings.’
She told the court her daughter’s partner applied for a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN), adding: ‘I still have no idea what this means.’
The pensioner said the VW had then been spotted on the road while it was being taken for ‘evaluation/repair’, leading to the prosecution.
She added: ‘I am a disabled lady of 83 years old, who has never had a driving licence and therefore no understanding of the vehicle tax process.
‘I was grieving my husband of 64 years, with very little awareness of the situation around me.’
Magistrate Dr Stephanie Smith, sitting at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, decided not to ask the DVLA to reconsider whether the charge should be dropped.
Instead, the pensioner received an absolute discharge rather than a fine and was ordered to pay £242.92 in unpaid tax by mid-September.
The DVLA, which brings thousands of SJP prosecutions each week, told a court reform consultation last year that prosecutors should automatically review all mitigation letters before cases reach a magistrate.
The SJP allows magistrates to sit in private to deal with cases and has faced scrutiny over prosecutions involving elderly and vulnerable defendants.
The Ministry of Justice has said proposed reforms to the SJP will be set out ‘shortly’.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan told the Press Association that every case of injustice damages public confidence and can ‘bring the courts into disrepute’.
