They had a blitz in Bedford just before Christmas, over 200 untaxed cars clamped in 3 days and most of them removed within a week! See this from the local paper:
www.seriousaboutnews.com/cgi/xtranews/viewnews.cgi...7,
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Hang on, if this is in a Car Park in Milton Keynes, then surely its on private property, and thus has no requirement to be taxed anyway?
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Unless they are SORN, they are illegal. It doesn't matter that they are on private property. In theory, they could clamp it in your own garage at home if it doesn't have a valid disc or been SORN'd.
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Road under the VE Act means a road repairable at public expense.
Presumably the Council pay for the upkeep of the Car Park hence a road.
DVD
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So is it untrue that we're supposed to get 14 days' grace after licence has expired, if we have every intention of buying one? New Year's Eve I went to get mine, only to find that the PO had shut early, and so had to wait till the 2nd. Could I have been done for that?
HF
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HF
There is no such thing as 14 days grace nor was there ever.
The 14 days was a sort of gentleman's agreement to cover the paperwork. With the clampers about bang went the gentlemen.
A tip that might work ( it used to), If ever reported by Plod for an Excise Offence, renew imediately. By the time his Form CLe 2/1 outlining the offence reaches DVLA then their records should show one now in Force - N.F.A.
DVD
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I got "done" years ago (late 70s, probably pre-DVLA) for No Tax Disc. I'd bought the car from a dealer who was supposed to get me the tax but had't got it by the time I picked the car up. I was desperate to get the car so took it without, and as he still promised to get it, he kept the log book.
Eventually in frustration 2 - 3 months later I visited him and retrieved the log book. Mrs Smokie insisted that I backdate the tax to when I bought the car, which I duly did, despite the fact that as far as I was concerned I hadn't been caught.
Two months later a "local enforcement officer" visited me to say that my car had been seen 3 months earlier with no tax disc. Which of course was true, although I had later bought it to cover the period in question.
Despite explaining the whole story, I was invited to attend court. Lawyer colleagues helped me write a mitigating letter, including the full and complete explanation, and I even managed to winkle a letter from the car dealer admitting that he had caused the problem.
Everyone thought I would get off.
I got found guilty, £5 fine and no expenses - which may not seem a lot (mind you, it was worth more then) but it meant I had a record of sorts. And proves DVD's theory doesn't always work...
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DVD's theory doesn't always work...
Another tame plod has confirmed DVD's point to me.
It only really works if you're under 1 month over and able to keep unbroken 'tax-edness'.
Failure to display is a police matter - usually 20 quid non endorsable. Taking it further than that is a civil matter and for the DVLA. If you've been without tax for ages or have been caught a few times they will contact the DVLA who are able to take your registration number from you and deal with any further 'fineage'.
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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Oh yes, HF you could. The 14 days grace is (was?) only for renewing at a post office. It's due on the day the old one expires and you get at least two weeks' notice of this when the reminder arrives.
You can also get done if you've got a disc but it's not displayed (in fact, iirc, that is the offence - failure to display a current road fund licence).
I really don't see the problem - it's not as if you lose the "unused" days on the old disc if you renew before it expires, so why hang on? :o)
Terry
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Its about time road license was abolished anyway, there should be a pay as you use system via tax on fuel. Using contractors to collect fines is typical of this government - its revenue raising in the style of gatso's, nothing more. If they were serious about proving vehicle road worthiness there would be an insurance and inspection disc as in Ireland.
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Depends how much fuel you get through, I suppose. I'm quite happy paying £110 a year for my VED. But then I drive 84,000 miles every 12 months, so I'm spending enough on fuel as it is.
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Perhaps Tony feels that if someone uses very little fuel in a year, then he's not using the roads and their facilities very much and not contributing to wear and tear etc and should pay proportionately less. As it is the low mileage user may only use the vehicle once or twice a month and still pay between £80 and £160 for the privilege.
Conversely, Dave may argue that the roads, and their accompanying infrastructure, need to be in place and maintained regardless of the individual mileage any one particular user may cover.......Who can say?
Personally I'm with Tony - but then I would be, covering only a relatively low mileage myself.
KB.
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IMHO fuel duty should be the only form of motoring taxation.
No VED, no congestion charging and no road tolls.
The fuel duty paid goes up in proportion to the time you sit in jams and therefore equates to congestion charging.
The duty paid increases for each mile run and therefore equates to tolls.
The basic infrastructure is a national asset and should come out of general taxation, same as any other public service.
In cities, with the proliferation of bus lanes, buses are being heavily subsidised by motorists nowdays as we are paying for roads that we cannot use half the time.
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Of course there is the small matter of the VED disc proving the vehicle was insured and MOTd on the day of issue. How many people who get clobbered on this one have an MOT or insurance? Very few I would suspect, judging from the summary of local court cases in my local rag......
Until they introduce an Insurance Disc and Roadworthiness Disc, we're stuck with the VED.
No Dosh - but then who has?
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DVD - thanks, guess I was just lucky I didn't get spotted by any clampers.
Terry, there's no problem, just genuinely didn't get round to buying tax on time, what with the festive season and all that. Will try harder next time ;)
HF
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I don't have any support for idiots with untaxed cars but if you are clamped for no tax disc and you have to produce a disc to get your car released what do you do if it needs an MOT to show when applying for tax? You can't get it MOTd while it is clamped! Sounds a bit awkward or have I missed something?
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Read the news article I've linked to above. You pays your £80 unclamping fee, and another £120 "surety", before they let you take the car away. And then they've got all your ID to chase you and take you to court when you neither tax nor scrap the car immediately.
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Read the news article I've linked to above. You pays your £80 unclamping fee, and another £120 "surety", before they let you take the car away. And then they've got all your ID to chase you and take you to court when you neither tax nor scrap the car immediately.
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Is that to me, K? I did read your link, and I understand the fees involved if you get caught. Was just wondering about mitigating circumstances, like I believe I had, but from other posts I find this was meaningless anyway!
Have a good day tomorrow K,
HF
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Thanks for that, I see what happens now! It had occured to me that this was another very good idea, spoiled in the execution, by incompetent drafting the regulations involved!
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