.... a chum who 'owns' a car that I found not to be taxed or have a valid MOT.

Reported both, but don't expect Plod or the DVLA to do anything ......

Would a wheel clamp plus a windscreen note with words conveying 'pay up within 5 working days or car crushed' be much of a drain on the police budget? A reputable breakers yard (assuming there are some) might be pleased to have the business.

I doubt it. Our local Police station isn't manned, and thus he'd be gone by the time the nearest copper turned up (which they wouldn't for that) - coming from 15-20 miles away.

Given the no VED/MOT, I doubt if the 'current' or 'last' registered keeper is this bloke. A nice easy get out for the Police, which is their go-to these days, even for more serious crimes. They have to get some seriously bad publicity for them to do anything meaningful these days, and even then, as we've often seen, that often isn't anywhere near enough.

Sadly, it this relatively 'low level' criminality they get away with that encourages them on to do escalate to more serious stuff.

You have to wonder why the .gov website exists at all, given it (in both our cases) has obvious evidence that Plod could use to track down and do as necessary without our intervention.

Another local did not tax/MOT their car for many months and did not SORN it either (at least it didn't say that on the website, and surely it's supposed to). I never saw Plod come to his door, despite the car being parked on the road for months.

Maybe they were too busy going after someone else for 'mean tweets' or suchlike - something really important.

AIuI, plod aren't interested as they regard car tax as a DVLA problem.

Odd that, because on the DVLA website it tells you specifically they cannot deal with VED reports and you must go through local Plod. I could report there that car was not MOTed though.

Likely another game of pass the responsibility parcel for the authorities. The daft thing is that it is a good guide (i.e. both not done) for someone likely to engage in other illegal activities, making Plod's life easier in other ways.