Reffro

Its not going to affect me, but there a going to be a few changes to VED from january 2004. the full article is here:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3049497.stm

But the basics of the new rules are:-

Changes from January 2004 include:


Registered owners of vehicles will be legally responsible at all times for taxing their vehicle. They will be liable for penalties and fines if the vehicle is untaxed, dumped or caught up in any other criminal activity.

This responsibility will now stay with registered keepers until the DVLA is notified that the vehicle has been scrapped, sold, stolen or exported, or unless a current Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN) has been declared.

Motorists will face a new automatic £80 penalty if they fail to renew their vehicle tax on time. Repeat offenders could face a minimum £1000 fine if taken to court.

Nigel H

On the face of it it seems a really good idea.

I pay my tax and it ****es me off when others get away without it.

I'd still prefer to see the tax on petrol, so that those who use the roads pay the most, but this change is progress.

suprabeast

theres already enough tax on fuel.

What kind of comment is that

scoob_babe

wow, must go and live in Essex if there's no tax on petrol there
I agree that people who want cars should have to pay the road tax in order to use it. I can't help feeling that the amount of money that the initiave is going to cost to implement could be way more though than what will successfully be recouped

Nick1

A very good comment Then people who drive loads of miles for companies which contribute to wearing the road out a lot quicker than I do driving at the weekends pay more

Do away with road tax and add a very SMALL amount to fuel

johnfelstead

I dont like that, i was away for 3 weeks until this week and my car tax ran out whilst out of the country and my car was in the garage, based on that i would return to an £80 fine.

There can be lots of reasons not to renew on time, such as late delivery of insurance documents, your car fails its MOT and takes you longer than required to get fixed. Yet more ways to screw us.

Arron

This country just gets better.

CarpetCleaner

JohnFelstead

Didn't you know???? If you come back and speak with a thick European accent you don't have to pay the fine and they'll give you some free nights at a top hotel in the oxfordshire countryside don't ya know

feckin free loaders...sorry peeps I aint politically correct I say things how I see them. If you are born here ya ****ed

FASTER MIKE!!

john if you don`t have insurance or an mot, the vehicle should be parked on private property, as no tax invalidates the above, therefore you declaire it sorn(statuary off road notice). bearing in mind you can tax a vehicle 14 day before it expires, so that should give you enough time to sort out your insurance/mot or have the vehicle sorn'ed.
i`m all for that as it will sort out alot of people who dodge it.
i think if you go into a dvla local office, you can tax your vehicle even earlier if you are going to be away

mike




[Edited by FASTER MIKE!! - 5/22/2003 7:13:55 PM]

johnfelstead

where do i say the car wasnt off the road? I tried to get my car taxed before i went away, but my MOT although valid at the time, ran out before the new tax period, so they wouldnt let me buy the tax disk. I then went and had the car MOT'd but didnt have time to go back to get the tax disk before my flight. So although the car was totally ligit, insured, parked off the highway in my garage when the tax ran out, i would get an £80 fine. Thats just not right.

What if the car was in a garage being repaired and the parts took longer to source than expected, not unusual, you arent going to want to go through getting a SORN as by the time thats sorted the car will be ready.

It's yet more beurocratic crap, which is the way these changes always go it seems, and the people trying to do the right thing are the ones who get screwed in the process. You think the people most likely to abuse road tax requirements have registered vehicles at their real address? i dont think so.

Automatic fines shouldnt be in place, any legally enforced penalty should be based on circumstances of events, otherwise the person who has a legitimate problem will get unfairly treated, that is basic natural law which is something this country is losing sight of more and more often.

Reffro

You have two weeks after the tax runs out to re-new the tax. If you don't re-new the tax or fill out a SORN form, you get a fine sent to you in the post. So you get a bit leeway.......

suprabeast

i think its basically this governements lovely new system of making everything automated so they can just fine you for just about anything on the spot. Its completely wrong and once again, the honest british tax payer will suffer because of it.

Going back to the tax on fuel business, theres enough tax on fuel already and the motorist does pay more if they drive further because they have to pay for more fuel. and with congestion charges and tolls on roads becoming increasingly popular, the governement are trying to force motorists onto already underfunded overloaded public transport..... yeah good one tony... *****

FASTER MIKE!!

john, i see your point. as explained above the 2 week notice does give people time and bit more leway to make there minds up or have things sorted.

mike

[Edited by FASTER MIKE!! - 5/23/2003 7:39:43 PM]

johnfelstead

i was out of the country for 3 weeks, i would still have been screwed. But that aside, its the basic pronciple of the thing, yet more ways to be screwed over and yet more costly beurocracy.