Will a penalty apply

Hello.  If, for example's sake, I set up a part-time sole trading activity in the summer of 2010 (from which I made a loss) and only registered online for Self Employment today, will I receive a penalty?  It will now apparently take up to 5 weeks for me to receive a UTR, so there's no way I could file a Return online by 31 January.  I didn't register earlier because I knew I would make losses (as still is the case and likely remain so for the next 6-months).  I am aware that, in the past with situations like this, HMRC have extended the online filing date, giving a tax payer additional time to submit a Return and, so long as that Return was submitted within a specified period (say 8 weeks) no penalty would be issued.  Does this still apply?