I think the Tax Tribunal is very patient with some taxpayers (and advisers).
On 15 July 2016 the Tribunal Centre received an Appeal from Fox Masters Surveyors Ltd. It sought to reinstate an appeal withdrawn on 28 January 2009 (yes).
The substantive issue was whether a Land Rover Defender was a commercial (trade) vehicle or a private vehicle for income tax purposes. (So, nothing to do with VAT.)
The appellant taxpayer’s representative had provided over 500 pages of correspondence, which now covered over ten years. The Tribunal judge was clearly unimpressed at this landing on her door mat.
There is legal provision, and some case law, for the reinstatement of an appeal. The lead case is Pierhead Purchasing Ltd [2014] UKUT 0321: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKUT/TCC/2014/321.html
The FTT went through the principles of reinstatement methodically. As you would expect, a near ten year gap is virtually impossible to bridge, so the case was dismissed.
You can read the whole sorry decision here: http://financeandtax.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk//Aspx/view.aspx?id=10492