Transport Secretary Alistair Darling today welcomed the great progress that is being made in tackling car tax cheats and announced further measures to crackdown on the menace of uninsured driving.
The results of the latest Roadside Survey of Car Tax Evasion in Great Britain, show that there are now nearly 700,000 fewer untaxed vehicles on our roads than two years ago, leading to improved road safety for all road users and saving the taxpayer £77m a year.
The introduction of the DVLA's Continuous Registration scheme has played a significant part in reducing car tax evasion from 4.8% in 2002 to 3.4% today. New plans unveiled in today's consultation on uninsured driving would operate along similar lines, with drivers who fail to get insurance being picked up automatically on a computer database.
Alistair Darling said:
"This is excellent news for the law abiding motorist. The results of this survey show that we are getting to grips with the problem of car tax dodgers. There are now 700,000 fewer untaxed- and therefore more insured vehicles as drivers need insurance to tax their cars- on our roads, leading to improved road safety for all road users and saving the taxpayer £77m a year.
" We are also pressing ahead with linking the police to the Motor Insurers' Database, allowing them to target uninsured drivers as well as giving the police the power to seize and, where appropriate, crush vehicles driven by uninsured drivers.
" But we also need to deter drivers from becoming uninsured in the first place. The consultation launched today proposes a new way of making sure all drivers have insurance. The Government is committed to making life much tougher for the small hard core of anti social drivers on our roads".
Notes to editors
Roadside Survey
1. Continuous Registration began on 1 January 2004. Motorists who fail to tax their vehicles within the month are identified from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) computer database and automatically receive an £80 penalty. There is no longer any need to spot an unlicensed vehicle on the road.
2. The law change was introduced in order to reduce the number of untaxed vehicles on the road - now estimated at 1.24 million. As car tax can only be purchased with a valid insurance and MOT certificate (if required), reducing the number of untaxed vehicles means reducing the number of vehicles without insurance and MOT. This benefits other road users by contributing to road safety. DVLA ran a publicity campaign to spread awareness of the change to motorists.
3. As registered keepers of vehicles are now legally liable for paying the tax, it is even more in their interest to inform DVLA straightaway of any change of keeper. If they do not, they will still be liable for paying the vehicle's tax bill even after they have sold it.
4. This will result in DVLA having a more accurate record of vehicle keepers. In turn, this will make it easier for the police to trace an individual vehicle's keeper - a key factor in reducing car crime.
5. To avoid the penalty, which came into force on January 1st 2004, motorists must make sure they do the following:
-
Ensure their car tax is kept up to date. Car tax can be renewed at a licence-issuing Post Office® branch, which accepts payments by debit card, cheque, cash, postal order, vehicle licence stamps or sterling travellers cheques. Postal applications can be made with a payment by cheque or postal order at specific Post Office ® branches.
-
Ensure they inform DVLA if they sell, export or scrap their vehicle, otherwise they will remain liable for keeping the car tax up to date. Once DVLA is informed it will issue a receipt which motorists must keep safe. The same applies for vehicles that are kept "off road". Owners must make a SORN (Statuary Off Road Notification) declaration to DVLA and will not need to pay car tax during the period the vehicle is not used on the public road.
6. As explained in the report, the survey involved contractors recording registration marks of vehicles at road sites across the United Kingdom. These were then checked against the computer record of licensed status to determine the levels of traffic observed without a valid licence. Adjustments are then made to derive estimated evasion in the total vehicle stock. Also as explained in the report, the procedures to estimate evasion in the total vehicle stock and hence the loss of revenue due to evasion have been changed from those used in earlier surveys. Data from 1999 and 2002 have been recalculated using these new procedures. In consequence, the estimate of the percentage of revenue lost in 2002 has risen from 4.5% to 4.8%.
7. Copies of Vehicle Excise Duty Evasion 2004 are available free of charge from SR6 Branch in DfT (telephone: 020-7944 3077), e-mail: Mu'azu.Aguye@dft.gsi.gov.uk It is also available free from the DfT website
8. Any queries about the detail of the survey should be addressed to Michael Baxter of Statistics - Roads Division, Zone 2/16, Great Minster House, London, SW1P 4DR. Phone: 020 7944 6459; e-mail: Michael.Baxter@dft.gsi.gov.uk
UNINSURED DRIVING: CONTINUOUS ENFORCEMENT OF MOTOR INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS FROM THE RECORD CONSULTATION
9. The Government commissioned Professor David Greenaway of Nottingham University to carry out a review of motor insurance with the aim of making recommendations to help reduce the current levels of uninsured driving in the UK.
10. Two new proposals have already been put forward. First, detection of uninsured driving will be significantly enhanced by the expanded use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology which will enable the police to make roadside checks on vehicles against relevant databases, including the Motor Insurers' Database (MID). Second, an earlier consultation paper, issued on 21 October 2004, proposes empowering the police to seize and, in appropriate circumstances, to dispose of, vehicles driven by uninsured drivers.
11. The above two measures will be a valuable aid to the police. Whilst effective however both measures rely on police enforcement and will only detect uninsured driving in traffic. We need in addition a prevention scheme which deters drivers from becoming uninsured and which does not need police intervention. The consultation paper describes a scheme of continuous enforcement of insurance requirements from the record. These proposals will be of interest to all motorists, together with companies and organisations involved with, or having an interest in, motor insurance issues.
