carl

Originally posted by AlanS:There was one like this on the A14 the other day, Felixstowe bound in a layby just after the Orwell Bridge. Are you sure it's not a front for a speed camera? It's just the one I saw had a big battery of lights and appeared to be pointing 'up' the carriageway i.e. in the direction of travel (unless maybe they hadn't yet set it up by opening up the back doors of the van, or it was looking on the other carriageway).

[Edited my 'how does it work' question when I realized the first post in this thread answered it. Duh!]

[Edited by carl - 12/1/2001 9:27:25 PM]

Mr.Manchester

ive heard a rumour about police waiting by the road with a radar gun reading your number plate and within a second they get a message back from the DVLA telling them if your car is taxed or not. Is this true???

Im not saying that ive got no tax, honest officer

church_monster

Top Gear did a thing on this not so long ago, though it was still in development....

CharlesW

Yes this is true. There was something in the Scottish papers a couple of weeks ago about it. They were going to start using the cameras in 12 sites. I think one camera takes a picture of the number plate. A second camera takes a wider view of the car - is the tax disc visible in the windscreen.

I reckon catching road tax dodgers is probably a good thing. As the police point out, no tax usually indicates no insurance and probably no driving license. If these sort of drivers are taken off the road, it might be safer for the rest of us.

fast bloke

There is a pilot system here which takes your reg, checks with DVLA for tax and notifies clamping company of addresses where they will find untaxed cars. Guy up the street got caught a couple of weeks ago. cost him 900 quid all in, as he had no MOT when the car was clamped and had to pay the clamp company to take the car to the mot centre as they wouldn't release it until he got it taxed. I couldn't help lughing as he was telling me his sad story.

Beemer_Deano

Heh heh, nice one. One motoring crackdown I do agree with!

IWatkins

Saw the system on telly (Top Gear ?). I also thought it showed whether the car had insurance on it also ?

Cheers

Ian

MichelleWRX1994

Another thing the police are chasing up on......*sigh* say no more

BTW Mr M sorry for missing you last night, I was too busy in i-club - hope to catch up with you soon.

ian_sadler

I've heard this as well.

Bloody great. Its about time. If they don't have any tax do 'em.

The only prob is that if its a photo or video camera, not the plod in a fast car, the reg plate may not have a current address to catch the low life. If its not taxed it may not be insured or redigestered (SPELL CHOCK PLS) to the current driver.

Ian

Ian Cook

Have seen this in action, 2 vans parked on the A320 Chertsey junction of the M25 2 CCTV cameras taking shots of both lanes, and several police standing a couple hundred yards down the road pulling people over, it must be quick as they were standing there, not sitting in police cars !

steve jackson

iTrader: (2)

Saw it in action in wakefield, White van on roadside with two cameras in the back facing oncoming traffic, And two police officers 300 yrds down the road, Road tax dodgers [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] totaly agree with this one.
Steve

adge

iTrader: (22)

I've seen posters on advertising boards at the side of the road advertising the fact that they are hitting areas around Manchester looking for Tax dodgers with these camera's.
Why the hell they can't put it on petrol like other european countries, because then nobody can avoid paying.

scooby555

So if they r going to have a 'big' clamp down on tax dodgers (probably insurance and mot as well), this means less uninsured vehicles and then supposedly LOWER INSURANCE !!!!!!!





BTW Is that a pig flying past my lounge window ???????

GeorgeF

They have these camera detectors out on a regular basis in central Scotland. I have passed the on several occasions. They can give you a fright, as I thought they were speed cameras the first few times that I saw them.
George

FASTER MIKE!!

does'nt no tax mean no MOT or insurance, ie invalidates them both?

ozzy

FM,

You don't need Road Tax to get the car insured, although it would need to be taxed when going for an MOT.

You obviously need Insurance/MOT to get Road tax though, but there's no reason why someone without road tax doesn't already have an MOT or Insurance.

I recently ran my car for a week with no tax displayed (I did have tax before anyone asks). My old tax disc holder got all hard and brittle so took it off ready for my new SIDC one. It got held up, so I just had the disc lying loose on the dash. After a day or so of it disappearing down the passenger seat, I left it in the glove box.

Unfortunately I got pulled by the cops, but since I had the tax disc inside the car they just gave me a warning about displaying it properly.

They did make sure I had insurance though as I had to show my documents to the local cop shop. They told me if I hadn't had the car taxed, then I'd get reported to the DVLA and they would usually give me a one-off fine or if feeling a bit harsh would take me to court and give me a nice big fine.

Seems they are cracking down on those avoiding paying road tax. I guess most of them hold off fo a month or two before renewing thinking they'll save some money. That's probably why they'll hand out fines as it's a good way of getting some extra funds.

Insurance is a BIG no no as far as the cops are concerened. God help anyone caught without that.

Stefan

Stefan

Steve Howat

**On Soapbox**

Hmmm, noticed the courts listings in the local rag yesterday. One guy with no licence, tax, MOT or insurance got a real telling off... £20 fine, disqualified for 12 months (no license anyway, ho hum) and £25 costs... That'll teach him

Typically I've noticed these people with no anything legal get a small ban and a small fine. The punishment given will really dissuade them. However if you or I got caught pulling this kind of stunt it would be different.

Just through observation when walking into Crouch End the other day (cos my motorbike was 2 weeks overdue) I noticed 5 out of about 30 cars without valid tax (3 were white vans!!). If I notice them why don't the fuzz??

Makes yer mad doesn't it

**Off Soapbox**

SD

Just a quick point. Just because a car has tax does not neccessarily mean that you have insurance and an MOT. Remember the later 2 only have to be valid for the day of the start of the tax disc (like when you buy it) and could well expire the next day. In my case my insurance and MOT both ran out on the 5th of this month, but I got the tax on the 1st. I could've been driving round for almost a year after this without MOT and tax. Showing them on applying for tax helps the situation, but it is not the definitive answer.

Simon.

AlanS

Beware Nottingham. Yesterday a white van with a camera was sited on the inbound side of Mansfield Road, just after Redhill Roundabout as you go over the apex of the hill. The van had a prominently placed sign which says something like "DVLC Tax Evasion Camera".

It is manned by two civilian types in flourescent type jackets. There was a board placed on the side of the road explaining what was happening but I couldn't read it as I passed.

Everyone slowed down as they thought it was a speed camera trap, but it was tax evasion they wanted.

I have to say that anyone driving in the boundaries of Nottingham should be very careful as we have the latest type digital camera traps, loads of gatsos, a dedicated mobile speed trap unit, and at least one unmarked scooby.

robman

Just a thought - couldn't they also use this system to get back the following messages:

"Vehicle reported stolen"

"Driver reported pissed-up"

fazack

The Police get my full support on this one. They often get some stick on the BBS but we should praise them when they tak positive steps like this.

I just hope that the courts give out suitable punishments - it must be a bit of a bummer when a cop has to stand out in the cold rain catching crooks, knowing that they'll get a slap on the wrist and a £25 fine.

I have spoken to people in the past who do not pay car tax on the basis that the fines are cheaper. Someone needs to take note of this.

fazack

P.S. It gets my goat.

GM

A few years ago my sister-in-law was lent her mother's car because her's was damaged in an accident. Her mother taxed before she handed it over but instead of taking the old disc out she just put the new one in the holder in front of it. Well, that was what she meant to do - she actually managed to put it behind the old one. Three weeks later - ticket for failing to display. She won't do that again I suspect

stevie c

Gets on my nerves too.

why should I pay my tax and insurance and they dont?

grrrrrr!

£1400 a year for me......blah....blah.....free for them......grrr!

steve(not bitter!)

fazack

Bloody parasites.