SORN scam

I acquired a car as parts donor car for my daughters car. I put it on my property, off road, the day before the tax ran out and sent off a SORN form to DVLA. I thought no more of it, but this week I received a letter from Continuous registration centre saying that no SORN had been received, therefore I had committed an offence, had to pay £40.00, plus £ 18.34 back tax. If I didn't pay, the fine would go up to £80.00.

I have written back to them explaining that I did submit a SORN form, and asking them to bring their records up to date. I'm sure that they will reject this, but there are several things about this business that I find unacceptable.

1 On the SORN form, there is not one word about what happens next. I am now informed that I should have received a notification from DVLA that SORN had been registered, but of course I did not know that.

2 They did not send a postcard or whatever saying that SORN had not been registered or the vehicle taxed and what was going on. If they had, I could have submitted another form and there would be no problem. Instead they went straight for this penalty, in effect saying that I have committed an offence, have been charged, found guilty, and sentenced, and I knew nothing about it.

3. The letter they sent me simply states that the car has not been taxed or SORN declared, therefore an offence has been committed. It does not admit to any other possibility to explain the non-registration, because DVLA never make a mistake, right?

It seems to me that there is a deliberate system of making offenders of people when no offence has been committed, And a deliberate attempt to prevent a failure of registration being rectified by concealing it from the "offender" until penalty has been incurred, not to mention the raising of revenue by a disgusting back-door swindle.

I want to defend this, I am furious about it. I can't afford to get a lawyer involved and I'm sure I wouldn't get legal aid for this. Do I have a chance or am I toast?

Steve