Many moons ago I used to have to sit in court and report the misdemeanour's for a local paper. It was 'interesting' to hear the many 'reasons' why there was no tax and usually no insurance either... The most common reason that most of the defendants would not admit was that they were poor and couldn't afford it. The magistrates had heard it all before - and the end result was always the same... A heavy fine and points or loss of licence - and they'd have to pay back duty too.

Yep the grey hairs I have show I was not born yesterday

spaceprobe wrote:

Bluebottle wrote:So when you get in a vehicle to drive it, how do you know it is taxed and will you still get prosecuted if there is no way to check?

Its all kept on a database, trust me has a magistrate for some 25 years the DVLA will find you and prosecute.

But Jo Public doesn't have access to the database, the driver can't check, obviously the authorities can.
(I was DVLA enforcement for 3-4 years)

It is the owners responsibility to make sure a vehicle is taxed and insured. A driver should asertain that these things are in place not easy I know.

I expect we will be able to check on one of the government sites like we all do now to make sure our vehicles are insured. The ASKmid site is excellent and apparently, it's our duty to make sure we are on the database and draw it to our insurers attention if we are not. My bro in law was stopped by a police patrol car as the patrol car's number plate recognition camera had shown up the fact my bro in law was not insured! In fact he was, but his insurers had not put his details on the ASKmid site and therefore showed his car up as uninsured. He got life, and a £60 fine. The patrol car actually followed him to his home just a street away and checked his details and agreed he was insured after phoning his insurers. He was actually ok and no offence was reported. I was only joking about him getting life, and a £60 fine! But spose you all realised that... I'd want spaceprobe to be my magistrate. I'd hope he'd let me off for a ride on my Maxsym 600i that I'll probably be buying!

I don't put my black cap on very often

no doubt jo public will have to pay for info and it is the owners responsibility to tax and mot vehicle

Yipee, this means that I can finally get rid of that old Guinness label.

Adding the charge on fuel instead would be better IMO. Least then everyone pays, including foreign reg'd vehicles. The more fuel you use (be it through mileage or a low mpg vehicle), the more you pay. I've worked out that if a 1-2p extra charge was put on fuel I'd be paying around £2.80-£5.60 a year instead of £37 on VED.

The database can go wrong - not updated, system failure etc, resulting in being pulled over for no Tax when you have paid it. Or then you have to check (probably with a fee) when buying a 2nd hand vehicle to make sure it's been Taxed.

Bluebottle wrote:So when you get in a vehicle to drive it, how do you know it is taxed and will you still get prosecuted if there is no way to check?

i suppose it will be log on to dvla like i do to see if mot on prospective purchases it usually shows there now if i remember if got tax