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🇬🇧 United Kingdom /Crime & Justice

Sadiq Khan’s car-tax conviction withdrawn after ‘scam’

From The Guardian · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • A magistrates’ court withdrew London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s conviction for failing to tax a Nissan Micra after authorities determined the car was not his.
  • Khan had been convicted in his absence and ordered to pay £220 in fines, £85 in costs and £35.84 in unpaid tax.
  • The case drew attention to the single justice procedure and claims that motorists had falsely registered vehicles in Khan’s name.

A one-minute court hearing cleared London Mayor Sadiq Khan of a car-tax conviction after the DVLA asked magistrates to withdraw the case.

Khan had been found guilty last month of failing to tax a 24-year-old Nissan Micra. City Hall officials said the vehicle belonged neither to the mayor nor to Transport for London. The case was reopened at Hereford justice centre on Thursday and formally withdrawn by a panel of magistrates.

The DVLA have requested that the original matter, if you consider it to be reopened, be marked withdrawn.

· Legal adviserThe adviser conveyed the DVLA’s request during the brief magistrates’ court hearing.

Khan and a DVLA representative were absent. A legal adviser told the panel that the case had been widely publicized and said the DVLA wanted the original matter marked as withdrawn. Mrs Digings, chairing the bench, accepted the request.

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 Further to the request from the DVLA, we are going to mark the matter as withdrawn.

· Mrs Digings JPThe chair of the magistrates’ bench formally withdrew the conviction.

The mayor had been convicted in his absence under the single justice procedure, a system in which magistrates handle large numbers of cases, sometimes spending less than a minute on each. He had been ordered to pay a £220 fine, £85 in costs and £35.84 in unpaid tax for the Micra.

The case was described by a Khan spokesperson as a scam and a crime. The spokesperson said it was not the first time someone had falsely claimed that Khan owned a vehicle, and said the DVLA was aware. Khan has faced protests from motorists over London’s ultra-low emission zone, and some protesters had said they planned to register cars in his name so he would be liable for the zone’s £12.50 daily charge.

scam, which is a crime

· Khan spokespersonThe mayor’s spokesperson characterized the false vehicle registration that led to the conviction.
About this summary

Originally published by The Guardian in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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