SORN SCAM SCANDAL AS FEE-CHARGING WEBSITES PREY ON THE VULNERABLE

Unscrupulous websites are scamming customers by  charging them to declare their cars off-road - a service they can get for free

• Fear of ‘getting it wrong’ means operators are preying on the vulnerable
• To declare SORN (Statutory Off-Road Notification) for free go to www.gov.uk/make-a-sorn

Unscrupulous websites have been accused of ‘daylight robbery’ and ‘preying on the vulnerable’ by charging for services that are available freely and easily.

Sites including get-sorn.co.uk, registeroffroad.co.uk and sornservice.co.uk are charging £25 - or £30 for a ‘fast-track’ service - for customers who wish to declare their cars off-road to avoid fines or having them clamped and removed.

Yet the service is available for free via the DVLA’s own website and takes just minutes to complete.

“This is just preying on the naive or vulnerable,” said Philip Swift, CEO of vehicle data specialist CMA UK. “It’s a free service and easy to use.”

Thanks to clever search engine optimisation, the paid-for sites often appear ahead of the free service on a Google Search.

According to the latest DVLA data (2018) there are currently over two million cars registered as SORN in the UK.