Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said he is the victim of a scam after being convicted and fined for failing to tax a 24-year-old Nissan Micra that he claims does not belong to him. The Labour politician, 55, was prosecuted last month by the DVLA for keeping an unlicensed vehicle and was fined £220 by Herefordshire Magistrates’ Court in a fast-track process. City Hall has insisted the Nissan Micra has been wrongly registered in the mayor’s name, and the DVLA is investigating the circumstances of the prosecution.
Mayor’s office calls prosecution a crime
In a strongly-worded statement on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for the mayor said he is the victim in this case and should not have been prosecuted and convicted. “This is a scam, which is a crime,” the spokesperson said. “It’s not the first time the mayor has been victim of a scam involving people falsely stating that Sadiq is the owner of a vehicle. Such behaviour is illegal, and the DVLA are aware.”
The prosecution came after Lord Khan expanded the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to cover the whole of London, which sparked protests from motorists who said they planned to register their cars in the mayor’s name to make him liable for the £12.50 daily charge. The DVLA brought the case through the Single Justice Procedure, a controversial fast-track court process that allows magistrates to sit in private for low-level criminal cases. The Government is currently reviewing the process after scandals including children being unlawfully prosecuted and sick pensioners being convicted for unpaid household bills while in hospital.
Court details and conviction
Magistrate Surinder Gidda, sitting at Herefordshire Magistrates’ Court, convicted Lord Khan on August 18 after no plea was entered. He was ordered to pay a £220 fine, £85 in costs, and settle the £35.84 bill for unpaid tax on the Micra. Court records show the DVLA accused Lord Khan of being the keeper of the blue Nissan Micra, first registered in 2002, when it was spotted untaxed on January 24. The agency said a letter asking for confirmation of the car owner went unanswered in January, leading to the prosecution.
In a twist, DVLA letters about the unpaid tax were sent to Gordon Ramsay’s east London restaurant instead of the nearby TfL offices. Court papers show the letters went to 9 Endeavour Square, a two-minute walk from TfL’s base at 5 Endeavour Square in Stratford, where Bread Street Kitchen, Bar & Rooftop occupies the top floor. The court also sent a record of conviction to the restaurant, ordering Lord Khan to pay the £340.84 court bill within 28 days or face increased fines, bailiffs, or “a warrant for your arrest to bring you to court”.
Next steps to overturn conviction
The DVLA has said it is investigating the circumstances of the prosecution, and it is understood efforts are being made to urgently reopen the case. If the DVLA does not reopen the case itself, Lord Khan could appear in court in person to make a statutory declaration, arguing he did not know about the case because letters were addressed to the wrong building. Once reopened, he could petition the DVLA to withdraw the prosecution or enter a not guilty plea.
The Single Justice Procedure, introduced in 2015, has been dubbed “conveyor belt justice” by critics due to the speed of cases. It was rocked in 2024 when around 59,000 train fare evasion convictions were overturned for being unlawful, and children were found to have been wrongly convicted. Online records show the Nissan Micra was taxed again in February this year, but the mayor’s conviction remains unless the case is formally reopened.
