A pensioner battling fading eyesight and declining mental health has received a criminal conviction over £20 of unpaid car tax while he was struggling to cope with the loss of his wife to cancer.
The 79-year-old man from Portsmouth was taken to court last month by the DVLA, in a prosecution brought through the controversial Single Justice Procedure.
Court papers obtained by The Standard show the pensioner’s son set out details of his father’s struggles in a letter to the court.
But the letter was not shared with DVLA prosecutors due to the fast-track nature of the court process, the pensioner was then convicted and ordered by a magistrate to pay £105.
The last Conservative government failed to deliver reforms to the Single Justice Procedure in spite of a growing bank of evidence that vulnerable people across England and Wales are being harshly treated and in some cases wrongly convicted in the secretive courts process.
The new Labour government says the system is currently “under review”, but has refused to share details of possible reforms.
In the letter to the court, the pensioner’s son set out: “My father recently this year had cataracts removed from his eyes and since has not been able to see to drive. He also suffers with macular degeneration. This severely impedes his ability to see.
“My father was living alone at the time of the alleged offence, following the death of my mother to cancer whom he had been the sole carer.
“Since that time, my father’s mental health has rapidly deteriorated and he has become withdrawn from society.
“As such, he has been unable to read or respond to mail and cannot remember what he has done and not done.”
He said he has moved from London to Portsmouth to care for his father, who will soon celebrate his 80th birthday, and told the court the Ford car was “off the road on a private car park at a nearby shop, as my father was no longer driving it”.
The tax ran out on February 29, and the vehicle was re-taxed on April 1, while the insurance was in place throughout.
The DVLA wrote to the pensioner on April 13 but did not receive a response. A decision was made to bring a criminal prosecution on September 4
“In light of these facts, I would ask the court to show compassion and leniency when considering this case”, added the son, in a plea of mitigation.
A magistrate sitting in Bradford gave the pensioner an absolute discharge, but ordered him to pay the £20 of unpaid tax and £85 in costs because the case came to court.
It is the latest case of harsh justice to emerge from the Single Justice Procedure thanks to a long-running Standard investigation.
A panel of lawyers recently looked at a collection of questionable prosecutions, and found nearly three quarters should never have been brought to court.
Cases that have emerged include a woman prosecuted for unpaid car insurance as she grieved the death of her young baby, pensioners being taken to court by the DVLA while they are in hospital or in a care home, and TV Licensing prosecutions brought against people with severe mental health struggles.
The DVLA confirmed the magistrate had chosen not to refer the pensioner’s case back to them for a possible check if the prosecution was in the public interest.
“We urge anyone who receives a letter about potential enforcement action to get in touch with us if there are mitigating circumstances we need to know about”, said a spokesperson.
“A Single Justice Procedure notice will only be issued when we have exhausted all other enforcement routes.”
Single Justice Procedure hearings are held in private, with the press and public excluded, and magistrates make decisions based on written evidence alone.
The Ministry of Justice claims that magistrates look at all mitigation in all SJP cases, and says magistrates always have the option of referring cases to open court.
“The decision to prosecute cases under the Single Justice Procedure is made by the prosecuting authority and is designed to allow low-level offences to be dealt with simply, sparing people having to go to court”, an MoJ spokesperson said.
“However, the Government continues to review what more can be done to support vulnerable defendants, as well as how to improve the oversight and regulation of organisations using the Single Justice Procedure.”
