Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 schedule 2A paragraph 4

Offences as to securing possession of vehicles

Schedule 2A paragraph 4 deals with the criminal offence of making false or misleading declarations to recover a vehicle that has been removed and taken into official custody for non-payment of vehicle excise duty.

• It is a criminal offence to make a knowingly false or materially misleading declaration to secure the release of a vehicle that has been removed and placed into official custody.
• The false declaration in question is one claiming that the vehicle is or was exempt from vehicle excise duty, when the person making the declaration knows this to be untrue or misleading.
• On summary conviction (in a magistrates' court), the maximum penalty is a fine up to the statutory maximum.
• On conviction on indictment (in a Crown Court), the penalty can be up to two years' imprisonment, a fine, or both (except in Scotland, where imprisonment and a fine cannot be combined on indictment).