A RETIRED police officer has been stung by a DVLA fine – and is now being chased for money he has already paid.

George Pinnington, of Meltham , was hit by an £80 penalty after failing to renew an off-road declaration on his car.

Mr Pinnington claims he never received the annual reminder to renew the Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN) on his Nissan 300 ZX sports coupé.

He reluctantly paid-up, only to be pursued by a debt-chasing company threatening him with a £1,000 fine and court action.

Mr Pinnington, who retired from the Greater Manchester force, had taken his F-registered car off the road in 2010.

It was letting in water and had to be taken apart.

The car is unroadworthy and stored at a privately-owned commercial garage in Honley.

Mr Pinnington said he had simply forgotten to renew the SORN after his reminder failed to arrive.

“I was totally unaware that the SORN had expired until I received a demand for the £80 penalty and £18.34 in back duty in March.

“The letter said the penalty would be reduced to £40 if I paid by March 5 but we were already past that date.

“I tried to ring the DVLA but you just can’t speak to a real person,” he said.

“I wrote them a long letter and eventually they replied saying they were not obliged to send reminders.”

If a car is taken off the road no vehicle excise duty is payable.

The DVLA insisted the money was due and Mr Pinnington paid the £98.34 by debit card on April 12.

“This is a nice little earner for the DVLA,” he said.

“This car is unroadworthy with no documents and is parked up on private property.

“I just don’t know how they can demand back duty on a car that’s been nowhere near a public road.

“All they are doing is alienating a section of the population who would not willingly break the law.”

To compound Mr Pinnington’s frustrations a debt-chasing firm Collectica Enforcement Services is now pursuing him for the £98.34 he has already paid.

“They are threatening to clamp my car which would incur a release fee and say there could be a £1,000 fine, county court action and a court judgement against me.”

Mr Pinnington has told the company he has paid and they have asked to see a copy of his bank statement as proof.

“I have got a statement from the bank which shows the money coming out on April 15, but I don’t see why I should have to show them my private information when the DVLA should have a record of my payment. The whole situation is totally unjust.”

Mr Pinnington said he didn’t believe the DVLA would pursue travellers, such as those who recently parked up on the Springwood car park in Huddersfield, but would go for “easy targets going about their law-abiding lives”.

A DVLA spokesman said: “We do everything we can to ensure that our records are accurate and on the whole they are.

“In this case, the record was not updated correctly when Mr Pinnington paid the late licensing penalty, so details were incorrectly passed to a debt collection company.

“We have written to Mr Pinnington to advise all enforcement action has been stopped. We are, of course, extremely sorry for any distress caused.”