Forum Topic

Tax Discs

I just heard that paper car tax discs will no longer be issued after 6 weeks and you will no longer be required to display the disc!Where did this come from? All news to meTechnology means that paper discs are now obsolete. The big difference is that if you sell your car, the remaining tax credit does not transfer with it! I'm not aware though if you can claim back the tax if you sell the car.

David P Archer ● 4236d13 Comments

Civil Enforcement Officers will presumably be kitted out with new software for the PDAs that they currently carry so that they have ANPR capability.And of course closely parked cars will be no defence against these.It is already the case that it is the job of the CEOs (and not the police) to routinely check vehicle tax status and has been for many years now.

Tony Colliver ● 4234d

ending the paper tax disc is probably a big mistake.Ordinary people don't tend to have a ANPR device.  But ordinary people can report an untaxed vehicle that has been left outside their home or street.There will be no means for ordinary people to report a suspicious vehicle as there will be no grounds to do so if it has no road licence details displayed.It will be yet another do you or don't you? and is one wasting police time? etc ..etc..Often, stolen cars are only found this way.It has obviously not occurred to our highly paid advisors and experts that no ANPR device can read a car number plate when it is is tightly parked. It will only work when the vehicle is on an open road with a clear view of the number plate.The stupidity of reliance on technology is quite shocking. It should be an additional means.Do they seriously expect officers to walk around every street trying to read every number plate?  Cloning is on the increase and very often for parked up vehicles to avoid paying road tax when not in use.We all know what will happen next. CPZs will be required in all areas to eliminate the vast amount of revenue loss that this will spawn

Anthony Waller ● 4234d

Jim Lawes ● 4235d

As my mate found to his cost when the personalised plate on his classic BMW was cloned.The first he knew was when Lancaster Council sent him a bunch of parking fines followed by a visit from the local 'boys in blue' as 'his' car had been used in a robbery in Lancashire (he lives in and never strays far from Oxfordshire).Fortunately although the car with the cloned plates was an identical model, his was 'debadged' at the factory and had the 'option' front light clusters which video evidence confirmed were not on the 'cloned' car. a very worrying time for him though.

Nigel Brooks ● 4236d

Valid point. However, any log book (V5C) info held by DVLA has a VIN number which can be crossed checked. Just a means of verification. There will be a small percentage of society who will continue to escape legal obligations. Still have a major issue of EU-registered vehicles here not being able to receive fines, etc. The problem with that is that many EU vehicle plates can change every time it changes hands or moves residence unlike the British system where a vehicle is registered at "birth" unless you buy another plate and reregister it with DVLA. My registration plate has been cloned on an occasion when I received a bus lane fine with photo on a day when I was in Romania. Took six months, with evidence, to clear it with TfL.

Joanna Dabrowska ● 4236d

The combined database and ANPR only say that the registration number is legal. a cloned plate will defeat the system every time,

Fred Hunt ● 4236d

Tax discs, and other paper-based documents are easily defrauded (I'm not saying other forms of document media are not). Just like the askmid.com database, it is a step forward to combining insurance, mot, and road tax databases which makes sense, brings together cross-checking as well efficient data handling especially when checking non-roadworthy vehicles. Just wish we had the option to opt out of our info being sold on. I have no issue in having a register, but just wish we had the option to opt out just like the electoral roll and the opted-out edited electoral roll.

Joanna Dabrowska ● 4236d

Being cynical, my suspicion is that abandoning the paper 'tax disc' is merely one more step in the direction for (all) tax harmonisation as this country slides deeper into political union with the EU. I believe that France and Germany have vehicle taxation controlled by tightly regulated/issued physical car number plates. Eliminating the paper tax disc in the UK makes that an option for the future.

Andy Horridge ● 4236d

Got it I one Fred, total lack of joined up thinking. ANPR cameras will be of no use to the 'bobby on the beat' or the PCSO doing a casual check of 'disc matching number plates'. At least the annual trip to the Post Office or online renewal for a paper disc was one 'safety net'.

Nigel Brooks ● 4236d

These days an Insurance certificate isn't worth the paper it's written on, people get a certificate for a year on monthly installments and stop paying, keeping the certificate. I think this change will make it easier for crooks to clone number plates.

Fred Hunt ● 4236d

Surely this (the absence of a visible tax disc on the car) will make it more time consuming for the average PC to check out whether a suspicious car was taxed or not?  Unless they all now carry some form of ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) camera linked to the database?Unless I am overlooking the obvious (and I gather that the Police backed the idea) I would have thought a tax disc on show would be best, indeed along with insurance certificate.

Philip Coe ● 4236d

From 1 October, when you buy a vehicle, the vehicle tax will no longer be transferred with the vehicle. You will need to get new vehicle tax before you can use the vehicle. If you sell a vehicle after 1 October and you have notified DVLA, you will automatically get a refund for any full calendar months left on the vehicle tax. - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vehicle-tax-changes

Fred Hunt ● 4236d

Having given our cars away, tax discs, car insurance, regular maintenence and MOTs don't worry us. The other good news is that we save a fortune by using public transport and the occasional minicab and family, friends and neighbours kindly give us lifts. People are kind.

Gerry Tan ● 4236d