Direct Car Finance (DCF), the company which clogged the streets of Twickenham with untaxed vehicles, was prosecuted for its actions last week.

The company, which used to be based in Staines Road, pleaded guilty to 38 counts of keeping unlicensed cars on public roads.

DCF was fined £95 and ordered to pay £35 costs on each count and in addition had to pay all the back duty on the vehicles which brought the final total to £5,541.

The charges were bought by the Drivers and Vehicles Licensing Agency (DVLA) after people living near the company's premises contacted them about the situation.

In January of this year there were floods of complaints after a funeral was thrown into chaos because parked cars had blocked the entrance to a church.

To the distress of grieving relatives, pall bearers had to manoeuvre the coffin around and over the cars.

It was ultimate insult and a 30-strong steering group was subsequently set up to monitor the situation and lobby both the DVLA and the council.

One of the people involved in establishing the group said: "I am very pleased they have been fined. Their behaviour towards residents was callous.

"I understand that we all have to make a living but they went about it in a very offensive way."

A solicitor acting for DCF said the company was very sorry for what had happened and accepted full responsibility.

A spokesman for the DVLA, prosecuting the case, said he could recall very few similar cases in which so many offences were prosecuted simultaneously.

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