London mayor Sadiq Khan’s conviction and fine for ‘failing to tax Nissan Micra’ is withdrawn
London mayor Sadiq Khan has had a conviction for failing to tax a car withdrawn after officials concluded he was the victim of a scam involving fraudulent vehicle registrations. Lord Khan, 55, had been convicted in his absence last month under the single justice procedure (SJP), a controversial system that allows magistrates to decide low-level criminal cases alone and in private, over an unpaid tax bill on a 24-year-old Nissan Micra that City Hall says does not belong to him or Transport for London.
The DVLA had ordered Khan to pay a £220 fine, £85 in costs and a £35.84 unpaid tax bill after a magistrate in Herefordshire found him guilty of keeping an unlicensed vehicle. Court papers showed DVLA letters had been wrongly sent to a Gordon Ramsay restaurant rather than TfL's offices, and the agency said it would formally withdraw the conviction at Hereford Magistrates' Court and investigate the false registration. The case follows a 2023 campaign by motorists to register vehicles in Khan's name in protest at the ULEZ expansion, and adds to wider scrutiny of the SJP system, which was previously criticised after roughly 59,000 train fare evasion convictions were unlawfully issued.
- Sadiq Khan's car tax conviction withdrawn after DVLA found he was scammed
- Fraudsters falsely registered a Nissan Micra in his name
- Case highlights flaws in the controversial single justice procedure
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Sadiq Khan is the Labour mayor of London, a role he has held since 2016, overseeing transport, policing and planning decisions for the capital. Vehicle tax and registration in the UK is handled by the DVLA, while minor motoring offences can be dealt with through the single justice procedure, a system where a magistrate decides guilt alone, without a hearing, based on paperwork. This means someone can be convicted without ever finding out about the case against them until afterwards.
Khan has been a target of anger from some motorists over the expansion of London's Ultra Low Emission Zone, a scheme charging older, more polluting vehicles to drive in the city, which he championed as mayor. In 2023 this led to a campaign in which people attempted to register vehicles fraudulently in his name, apparently to cause him trouble with fines and legal paperwork. The single justice procedure itself has already faced criticism in recent years after it was found to have produced large numbers of wrongful convictions in other cases, raising broader concerns about oversight and fairness in how minor offences are prosecuted.