This is probably a very contentious issue.
In the small close where I live there are two untaxed vehicles. On one the tax ran out last October and it's parked on the road. The other has no tax disc and has been parked in front of some garages for 18 months; whether the owner has complied with SORN regulations I don't know, but I doubt it....
I try to be a law abiding citizen but get very fed up with other people breaking the law and getting away with it.
If I spoke to the owners I would, no doubt, get a mouthful (or worse). If I tell the police my details would probably get back to the owners and I would probably receive a brick through a window.
Anybody got any constructive comments?
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SORN only applies if the vehicle is actually off the road. ie, on a driveway, garage, etc. From what you've said both vehicles are still parked on a public highway. There is a "grassing" hotline where you phone the DVLA direct and report it, I think. Probably listed somewhere on the DVLA website.
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I know exactly how you feel - it is extremely frustrating.
I recently walked past a car on my estate with a tax disc which expired two years previously. I doubt if the keeper even had a driving license, let alone insurance, MOT, etc. I would very much imagine that if you were unfortunate enough to be in a collision with them they would just do a runner. I checked up on the DVLA website to find they weren't at all interested in making it easy to report such a crime, and would require me to download a PDF file to fill in and post to a local office. I would also have to provide my details upon it.
I thought about reporting it to Crime Stoppers for a moment. Unfortunately when I reported a disqualified driver to them a few years back I got the response of 'well, I can tell you the local police won't put an officer out to sit outside his house', and a general 'there's not a lot we are interested in here' attitude. Very frustrating. In that case I phoned my local police who at least thanked me for my time.
Anyway, what I ended up doing this time was contacting my local force via their website. I didn't give them my full name but said I was prepared to if required. I received a response saying they would pass my report on to the police in my division who would check the vehicle and make a report to the DVLA. This was a few weeks ago. I have not seen the vehicle on the estate recently, though I don't know if the police did anything. Remember to provide as much detail as you can when you report it, such as colour, where and when it parks up etc. Don't feel 'guilty' in any way - you are doing all law abiding motorists (and the general public) a favour. It is just such a shame the authorities couldn't be a bit more concerned.
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I downloaded the file from the DVLA website and used it to report an untaxed vehicle, in use on the public road. It was sent back to me because I had only supplied my initial, not my full first name! How it was relevant to the information I was lodging I am not sure!
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Grrrrr - all this annoys me - so many seem to get away with it. And all the rest of us pay the price.
HF
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Better to scrap it and make them pay through increase in petrol/diesel price.
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In many ways yes. The only thing is, you'd need to replace it with something like an MOT disc. After all, one benefit of ths system is that it allows the DVLA to check you have an MOT and insurance and display the fact in an easily detectable form.
One comment I'd make is that based on an average mileage of 10000 a year and an average MPG of 35, plus an assumption of 50p tax per litre of petrol (I believe it may actually be more) then the treasure already gets nearly £650 in tax from fuel, so the road fund licence isn't that important monetarily anyway.
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Better to scrap it and make them pay through increase in petrol/diesel price.
I totally agree, those who use the road most, should pay the most, but with a refund of tax for transport companies that keep the necessary flow of goods and services to the country. This would have a knock on effect (to some extent) of lowering traffic density, due to some people not using their cars as much (e.g. to nip round to the shops round the corner or take the children 300 yds down the road to school) and thus it would also reduce pollution and save resources.
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If the guts have been taken out of these untaxed cars and a major operation to get them back on the road and if there is no intention by the owner to do so then they may well not be classed as a mechanically propelled vehicle and therefore not liable to VED, Insurance, MOT.
Just a thought......
DVD.
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