“During this very difficult time, I did my best to manage everything correctly,” the widow wrote in a letter to her court
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NEED TO KNOW
- A woman received a criminal conviction for failing to pay her late husband’s $47 car bill in the weeks after he died
- The widow wrote a letter to her court to explain why the bill fell through the cracks, but the court opted to convict her
- “During this very difficult time, I did my best to manage everything correctly,” the widow wrote in her letter, per the BBC
A woman was convicted for failing to pay a $47 bill on her late husband’s car in the weeks after his death.
The woman, 51, who resides in Chesterfield, England, and has not been named publicly, said the bill slipped through the cracks in July 2025 while she was in mourning and making funeral arrangements for her spouse, according to the BBC.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), which is the government body that manages driver records and vehicle registration in Great Britain, took the woman to court over the mistake.
She ultimately received a criminal conviction after the case was handled under the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) — a process that allows courts in Britain to resolve minor criminal cases quickly without a full courtroom hearing — even though she had written a letter explaining the extenuating circumstances at the time she failed to pay the bill.
"At the time of the offense, my husband had recently passed away," the widow wrote in the letter, per the BBC. “This was an extremely distressing and overwhelming period in my life. I was grieving while also dealing with funeral arrangements and many urgent administrative matters following his death.”
The woman added that she has never personally owned a vehicle and does not drive, and thus had “limited understanding of vehicle tax requirements and legal procedures."
She also said that English was not her first language, and she struggled "to fully understand official correspondence.”
Credit: Getty
"During this very difficult time, I did my best to manage everything correctly, but I became confused about the vehicle tax and SORN [statutory off road notification] requirements. The vehicle was not used on any public road and was kept parked at my home address at all times,” she continued.
“There was absolutely no intention to avoid paying vehicle tax or to break the law. As soon as I understood the situation, I took steps to correct it," the widow added.
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The woman was found guilty and sentenced to a six-month conditional discharge along with an order to pay about $110 in addition to the original bill.
The courts technically had the option to refer the case back to the DVLA, but opted to move ahead with conviction, per the BBC.
In a statement to PEOPLE, a DVLA spokesperson said, “A guilty plea with mitigation made through the Single Justice Procedure can be referred back to DVLA and whether or not to do so is a decision taken by the magistrate. In this case the guilty plea was not referred back to us.”
PEOPLE reached out to the Judicial Office for comment. A spokesperson for the office said they cannot provide comment on individual cases.
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In a March 24 press conference, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Sue Carr, the most senior judge in the country, said that a “top judge” had recently conducted a review of the SJP after it faced criticism for a lack of transparency in its decision-making, as well as for routinely convicting the country’s most financially vulnerable citizens, according to the BBC.
The results of the review have not been released, per the outlet.
PEOPLE did not receive immediate comment from the Judicial Office on the results of the review.
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