A car tax conviction against Mayor of London Lord Sadiq Khan of Tooting has been formally withdrawn by the DVLA after he fell victim to a “scam” which saw him fined for not taxing a 24-year-old Nissan Micra.The Labour politician, 55, was prosecuted last month by the DVLA for keeping an unlicensed vehicle and was handed a £220 fine by a court in Herefordshire, after the case was dealt with in private in a fast-track court process.When the criminal case was highlighted to the mayor this week by the Press Association, City Hall insisted the Nissan Micra does not belong to Lord Khan, it has been wrongly registered in his name, and he had fallen victim to a “scam”.In a magistrates’ court hearing at Hereford Justice Centre on Thursday, the case was formally reopened against the mayor and withdrawn by a panel of magistrates after a request from the DVLA.Neither the mayor nor a representative from the DVLA were present at the court for the one-minute hearing.The legal advisor told the panel of magistrates they may be aware of the case as it was “widely publicised” on Wednesday, adding: “The DVLA have requested that the original matter, if you consider it to be reopened, be marked withdrawn.”Chairwoman of the bench Mrs Digings JP said: “We accept the reopening of the case as requested.“Further to the request from the DVLA, we are going to mark the matter as withdrawn.”After Lord Khan expanded the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to cover the whole of London he faced a wave of protests, including from motorists who said they planned to register their car in the mayor’s name – supposedly to make him liable for the £12.50 daily charge.The prosecution against the mayor was brought by the DVLA through the Single Justice Procedure, a controversial fast-track court process which allows magistrates to sit in private to deal with low-level criminal cases.The mayor, who became Baron Khan of Tooting after he was appointed to the House of Lords in July, was found guilty by a magistrate on August 18
