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Vehicle registration fraud

s.44 Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 · Triable either way

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Sentencing framework

The guideline for vehicle registration fraud structures sentencing based on the offender's culpability and the harm caused. It categorizes offences into different levels based on these criteria, with specific starting points and ranges for fines or custodial sentences, allowing for adjustments based on aggravating or mitigating factors.

Maximum sentence

2 years’ custody

Court

Triable either way

Starting point

26 weeks’ custody (Crown Court)

Offence range

Fine – 1 year six months’ custody

Aggravating factors

  • ·Previous convictions
  • ·Offence committed whilst on bail
  • ·Offence motivated by hostility
  • ·Commission of offence whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs

Mitigating factors

  • ·No previous convictions or no relevant/recent convictions
  • ·Remorse
  • ·Positive character and/or exemplary conduct
  • ·Serious medical conditions requiring urgent, intensive or long-term treatment
  • ·Mental disorder, learning disability
  • ·Age and/or lack of maturity
  • ·Sole or primary carer for dependent relatives

Sentencing range explorer

Select the culpability level and harm category to see the guideline's starting point and category range. This is an educational illustration of the published guideline — not a sentence calculation, and not legal advice. Courts apply the full step-by-step process, aggravating and mitigating factors, and the totality principle.

Culpability

Harm

Select a culpability level and a harm category above.

The sentencing process, step by step

  1. Step 1 — Determining the offence category
  2. Step 2 — Starting point and category range
  3. Step 3 — Consider any factors which indicate a reduction for assistance to the prosecution
  4. Step 4 — Reduction for guilty pleas
  5. Step 5 — Totality principle
  6. Step 6 — Compensation and ancillary orders
  7. Step 7 — Reasons
  8. Step 8 — Consideration for time spent on bail (tagged curfew)

Guideline notes

  • A community order must not be imposed unless the offence is serious enough to warrant it. Custody should not be imposed if a community order achieves the purposes of sentencing.

Always read the full guideline

This is a one-page summary. For any live case, sentencing exercise, or legal advice the authoritative source is the Sentencing Council's own definitive guideline — including the category bands, step-by-step sentencing approach, and all statutory factors not captured here.

Open the full guideline on sentencingcouncil.org.uk

Source: Sentencing Council · Crown copyright, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0. Summary fetched 2026-06-28. Not legal advice — see a regulated adviser for any live case.