Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 2

Sadiq Khan Seeks to Reopen £340.84 Untaxed-Car Conviction as DVLA Probes Alleged Scam

Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 2

Sadiq Khan Seeks to Reopen £340.84 Untaxed-Car Conviction as DVLA Probes Alleged Scam

Q: How did official court summons for the London Mayor end up at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant instead of City Hall?

The summons appear to have gone to Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant because the DVLA and court papers used the wrong Endeavour Square address. Reports say Transport for London’s offices, where papers for the mayor would more plausibly have gone, are at **5 Endeavour Square** in Stratford. But the DVLA correspondence and later the court’s notice of conviction were sent to **9 Endeavour Square**, a nearby building that houses **Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen, Bar & Rooftop**. That address mix-up meant the mayor’s team says he never received the paperwork and did not know about the case. Why the wrong address was used is still unresolved. The mayor’s office says the underlying vehicle registration was fraudulent and part of a scam in which Khan’s name was falsely attached to the Nissan Micra. In that scenario, once the false registration details entered official records, the DVLA’s enforcement process may have followed those incorrect details and generated correspondence to the wrong building. The DVLA has said it is reviewing how the prosecution happened and investigating the circumstances. If the vehicle was wrongly linked to Khan and the papers were improperly served, the case could be reopened and the conviction set aside.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 2

An application has been filed to reopen Sadiq Khan’s conviction for keeping an unlicensed vehicle, with the aim of withdrawing the prosecution after City Hall said the 2002 Nissan Micra was not his.
Court papers show DVLA letters and the conviction notice were sent to Gordon Ramsay’s east London restaurant, not to Khan, and the mayor was convicted in his absence under the Single Justice Procedure.
The magistrate ordered Khan to pay a £220 fine, £85 in costs and £35.84 in unpaid tax after DVLA records linked his name and date of birth to the car, whose tax expired last September.
DVLA said it is reviewing the case and investigating the false registration, while Khan’s team called it a scam and said he has previously been targeted by bogus vehicle registrations.
The case lands against lingering hostility over Khan’s London-wide Ulez expansion, after some motorists had threatened to register cars in his name to saddle him with charges.