Don't believe the guff you get from DVLA

[Motorhead]

This article from the Glasgow Herald should be of interest to all those who move about between UK and France (and anywhere else for that matter).

"Foreign drivers benefit in residence ruling

Lucy Adams Chief Reporter

12 Nov 2011

POLICE have been told to apologise after a landmark ruling which could change the way forces deal with foreign drivers.

The Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland, Professor John McNeill, found that Jeremiasz Kosinski, a Polish national, unlawfully had his car seized and was wrongly convicted for driving without insurance.

The man was convicted in 2008 of driving without valid insurance. Following an application to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), his conviction was overturned by the High Court in 2010.

The SCCRC found that, according to a European Directive, a person’s “normal residence” is the place where he/she “usually lives … for at least 185 days in each calendar year”.

Specifically, in terms of the legislation, the period should be calculated over individual calendar years rather than over “any” 12-month period, as had been believed by the police.

According to the commission, the police, prosecution, and courts of all instances acted against the law. It also concluded many provisions of Scottish law do not comply with European law and they had to be adapted.

The commissioner established that the decision by Strathclyde Police to seize the vehicle had therefore been wrong."

[Sunday Driver]

This has nothing whatsover to do with the DVLA....[8-)]

This was simply a case of an error on the part of the Oban Sheriff Court who miscalculated Mr Kosinski's residence status when enforcing the six month rule for visitors. 

http://www.sccrc.org.uk/viewfile.aspx?id=425

 

[Motorhead]

Never said it was SD.

However, this misinterpretation of the 6 month rule is exactly the same thing as the DVLA have been guilty of eg.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/pressoffice/pressreleases/archive2006/20060308_24.aspx

OK, so it's not exactly recent but it is still available on the internet (and presumably unretracted) and may even have been used by an Oban PF who should have known better.