Sir Sadiq Khan has had a conviction against for unpaid car tax overturned after insisting he was the victim of a “scam”.
The Labour politician, 55, was prosecuted last month by the DVLA for keeping an unlicensed Nissan Micra and was handed a £220 fine after the case was dealt with in private in a fast-track court process.
When the criminal case was highlighted to the Mayor, City Hall insisted the 24-year-old blue vehicle did not belong to Lord Khan, it has been wrongly registered in his name, and he had fallen victim to a criminal “scam”.
On Thursday the conviction was formally withdrawn after a request by the DVLA at Hereford Magistrates’ Court.
Neither the mayor nor a representative from the DVLA were present at the court for the one-minute hearing.
The legal advisor told a panel of magistrates they may be aware of the case as it was “widely publicised” on Wednesday, adding: “The DVLA have requested that the original matter, if you consider it to be reopened, be marked withdrawn.”
Chairwoman of the bench Mrs Digings JP said: “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 Further to the request from the DVLA, we are going to mark the matter as withdrawn.”
After Lord Khan expanded the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to cover the whole of London he faced a wave of protests, including from motorists who said they planned to register their car in the mayor’s name – supposedly to make him liable for the £12.50 daily charge.
The mayor, who became Baron Khan of Tooting when he was appointed to the House of Lords in July, was found guilty by a magistrate on August 18 after no plea was entered to the charge, and he was ordered to pay a £220 fine, £85 in costs, and settle the £35.84 bill for unpaid tax on the Micra.
Court documents show that letters addressed to the Mayor about the unpaid car tax bill were sent to Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen, Bar and Rooftop in Stratford, instead of the nearby TfL offices.
The DVLA, which uses the SJP system to prosecute thousands of people every week over unpaid tax and insurance bills, has so far refused to provide an explanation for how it ended up prosecuting Lord Khan.
It is understood that the agency relies on motorists to provide accurate details for their vehicles, while it is a criminal offence to deliberately provide false or misleading vehicle registration details.
The mayor was prosecuted by the DVLA after the annual tax on the blue Nissan Micra, which was first registered in 2002, ran out in September last year.
The DVLA accused Lord Khan of being the keeper of the vehicle when it was spotted as being untaxed on January 24, telling the court that his name and date of birth appear against the car on official records held by the Government.
The agency said a letter asking for confirmation of the identity of the car owner went unanswered in January, leading to a criminal prosecution.
