Small strip of land not part of title

My mother's house has a driveway which we always thought was part of the land in the title, but it turns out not to be. It is currently unregistered. We have put in an application for first registration on the grounds of adverse possession. She has had exclusive access to the drive for 16 years, although being a driveway, it is not totally enclosed - it has an opening through which you can drive, which is not gated.

I have discovered what I think happened in the past to create this anomaly - on a conveyance in 1961, lax wording and apparent laziness on the part of the conveyancer by reusing an existing drawing meant that this small strip of land got missed off the transfer.

My main question is: Will HM Land Registry be at all interested in what has happened in the past, or do the later conveyances which just transfer the reduced plot "bake in" the error, and make what should have happened in the past totally irrelevant?

Peter - a conveyancing error can't be put right to resolve the past so the application to claim title is the only way to go here.
The only alternative is to identify who owns the land, perhaps from the original deeds/documents, and to get them to now transfer it. As it wasn't included at the time then someone else is the legal owner.
However trying to identify who that is and getting them to assist might invalidate any current claim so please do speak to your legal adviser before doing anything further

Hi Adam, Many thanks for the clarification and the swift reply.

We did an index map search and the title to that strip of land is not registered. Does that mean there is no "documentary owner"? Or would the (presumably descendents of the) original vendor from the 1961 conveyance have to be found? I'm sure they have no idea they own a 9'x40' strip of land entirely surrounded by other peoples' properties!

I read somewhere that the "clock doesn't start ticking" for adverse possession if there is a right of way over the land in question. If this is the case, how do mistakes like this ever get resolved?

We will take legal advice - thanks for that recommendation.

Hi I'm in a similar position I own an old slaughterhouse the area in front was part of the old building and described in our conveyance title 1971 ,but upon transfer in 2002 that areas been deemed unregistered , iv been told to apply for registration even though it's clear my ownership , my worry is my neighbour would object to registration as we dnt get along , I would be interested how you manage to sort your issue   

I purchased a cottage property 19 years ago which dated from 1700. Consisting of 3 cottages joined together. These had been demolished and rebuilt from the original materials where possible and the result was one single cottage. 
during the transition the builder had to purchase extra land to one long side to give a new access for a new drive due to the position of this with relation to the position to the main road been too near to a bad bend.
there are 5 separate purchases and deeds completed by different solicitor’s including the last one by myself to widen the whole drive for access and parking. All land was purchased from a Lord’s Estate and resembles a jigsaw - where the boundary to the outside meets the Estate’s farmland there is a double gate in the wall. My problem is that we are selling the property now and where the gate is showing on all deeds there is a triangle which I thought was an indication of the gate been able to open towards my property although the farmer doesn’t need the access as too tight.
the buyer’s solicitor seems to think that these triangles are not owned by anyone - does anyone have any experience of what this sign means and if in fact they are right/what my actions should b to correct something I’ve been using for 19 years now without anyone commenting

Alan - unsure if you mean a triangle symbol (OS information) or a triangle of (un)registered land. If the latter and unregistered land then we don't know who the legal owner is
Our PGs 4 & 5 and 52 deal with claims as to ownership of land and prescriptive (claimed) easements (rights) which may be of interest. But please do rely on your conveyancer for legal guidance
Land registration: Practice guides - GOV.UK

Hello Peter. Just wondering if you managed to sort this as we have an almost identical situation