A TEENAGER has been slapped with a criminal conviction over £1.67 of unpaid car tax on a surprise birthday gift.
In a letter to the court, the teen explained the brand new Toyota was bought as a secret present from her parents for her 18th birthday.
The 18-year-old claimed she was entirely unaware of it when it was deemed uninsured for just a few weeks in April and early May.
The teenager claimed how her parents were waiting to see if she passed her driving test before paying the annual £20 road tax fee.
But she explained in a letter that she never drove the car as she had not received her licence at the time of the offence.
She wrote in her letter: “As I was not the driver at the time of the offence and not aware that I owned the vehicle, I kindly ask that you review this offence.”
However, the DVLA charged her with keeping an uninsured vehicle and brought a criminal prosecution over the unpaid bill.
Magistrate Francine Beckett, sitting in Burnley, decided to impose a criminal conviction on the teen.
The teenager, from Porth in South Wales, received a six-month conditional discharge from the court.
And she was also ordered to settle the £1.67 bill because of the offence.
The court heard how she was prosecuted for keeping a vehicle without a valid vehicle licence.
She submitted an online guilty plea, but then went on to explain: “I was unknowingly the owner of the vehicle in question.”
She set out how she “was unaware of this until I passed my driving test in June 2025.
“This vehicle was an early 18th birthday present from my parents. At the time of this offence, the garage were delivering the vehicle to my parents house in readiness for me passing my driving test as this was a surprise present.
“The vehicle was not taxed at this time as my parents were unaware whether I would pass my driving test and therefore use the vehicle (as the typical re-booking period for a driving test is 3 months).”
She added that DVLA records would show that the vehicle was insured and taxed on the day she successfully passed her test.
The DVLA took the decision to prosecute earlier this month, and said in court papers that a letter about the unpaid bill – which was also sent before the teenager knew she owned a car – had not been answered.
Prosecutors like the DVLA do not routinely see mitigation letters, so miss the chance to withdraw cases which turn out not to be in the public interest.
It comes after another teenager received a criminal conviction for not being insured for her car – before she had received it for her 18th birthday.
The waitress, from Poole in Dorset, was gifted a Fiat for her landmark birthday, but mistakenly did not insure it immediately.
