DVLA News
Vehicle Road Tax Disc – Don’t be caught out, know the rules
October 1st 2014 will mark the biggest change in vehicle tax history as we see the end of the paper Vehicle Road Tax Disc. When taxing your vehicle from this date forwards you will no longer receive the iconic little round paper tax disc and our windscreens will be bare. The reason for this change say the DVLA is that the paper vehicle road tax disc has become redundant over time and the police rely on the DVLA’s electronic vehicle register and the ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) technology to check whether a vehicle is taxed or not and getting rid of it will apparently save taxpayers around £10 million every year and removes administrative inconvenience for businesses over the country. The new rules that will come into effect will be:
A tax disc no longer has to be displayed even if the car has vehicle road tax remaining, however you are still legally allowed to display an old tax disc
The vehicle road tax will not now transfer over to the new owner when a car is sold. The seller of the vehicle will be issued with a refund for any full calendar months left on the vehicle tax
A buyer must purchase the vehicle road tax immediately so not only will they have to arrange the insurance they will also have to arrange for vehicle road tax before they can even drive the vehicle away
To buy your vehicle road tax disc you can do this online or by calling 0300 790 6801 or by visiting a Post Office branch.
With no paper tax disc how then can you check a suspect vehicle. To check the MOT and vehicle tax status of any car you can go to www.vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk
If your vehicle is classed as Historic which qualifies for free vehicle road tax disc you will still need to tax it and also vehicles that no longer require an MOT i.e. pre-1960 still need to be ‘taxed’ although it is free and even though there is no longer a disc to show it.
Will this new way forward cause any issues or will it all be easy and hassle free – no doubt we shall see.
Motor Vehicle Tax
Well there is now just under 1 week – YES 1 week to go before the Vehicle Tax Disc is no more are YOU READY !!! Please follow this DVLA link to answer any questions that you may have regarding the abolition of the Vehicle Road Tax Disc. https://insidedvla.blog.gov.uk/2014/09/24/its-getting-closer-one-week-to-go/
DVLA Vehicle Tax Disc – A brief history of the vehicle Tax Disc
So in less than 6 weeks the Tax Disc will be no more. The little round disc we all know and love is to be abolished. This post is to share a brief history of the Tax Disc which has been displayed on vehicles since 1921 and will vanish forever from 1st October 2014.
The 1919 and 1920 Acts laid out the specifications for the first Tax Discs and how they should be displayed by using a circular holder as proof of payment of the Road Fund Licence and this was the beginning of the Tax Disc .
The first tax discs issued during 1921 and 1922 were square and were produced on plain grey paper with black ink and on the reverse it had simple instructions, these early discs did not have perforations.
All Tax discs expired within the year of their issue so for example if you purchased one in June of that year then it would only be valid for 6 months until the end of the year.
This system of the Tax Disc expiring on December 31st remained for many years.
In 1923 we saw the introduction of colour to the tax disc and colour changes took place every year along with various designs from a vertical bar to a horizontal bar to a cross in 1935.
Perforations on the Tax Disc came in in 1938 and the yearly colour stripe was now diagonal.
1961 saw major changes to the Tax Disc to combat forgeries and also in 1961 you could now buy your 12 months car tax at any time, for example if you purchased 12 months tax from March 1961 it would not expire until end of February 1962.
In 1974 came the DVLC (Driver Licencing and Vehicle Centre) as it was then known, we all know it today as DVLA or simply ‘Swansea’ and this saw a change to the Tax Disc. This new national system of driver and vehicle registration, computer-based, took on all the responsibilities which had previously been dealt with by the County Licencing Offices. From this point, the Counties ceased to have any responsibility to keep records of drivers or vehicles, or for the issuing of Tax Discs. Swansea and its 81 regional offices took over entirely.
In 1977 digital style Tax Discs arrived and these lasted until 1987 when the first wavy line styles were introduced. The design was altered again in 1993.
In 2001 the Tax Disc was now produced on watermarked paper and embossed repeatedly across the top with DVLA. Star shaped perforations, gold foils, holograms and barcodes were all introduced in October 2003.
From 1st October 2014 we shall no longer see the this iconic round shaped coloured piece of paper displayed in the corner of our windscreens or on our bikes they will be empty and a little piece of motoring history will be gone.
click on image for larger view
DVLA VEHICLE CHANGES CHAOS
A recent article published in Classic Car Weekly warns vehicle owners to beware of being sent penalty charge payments which they might not need to pay. DVLA Swansea are pursuing thousands of motorists with penalty charge payments relating to alleged unreported vehicle changes, where it is the seller’s responsibility to inform the DVLA Agency of any changes by post that they no longer are the registered keeper of the vehicle. Even after a recent Freedom of Information request showed that almost 2000 cases had been dropped before making it to court the DVLA were still continuing to issue fines to motorists who had sold their cars on. With the recent closure of all local DVLA offices most had to rely on the postal service to send in documentation notifying DVLA of the changes.
An example being where a gentleman received a Penalty Charge Notice for failure to notify the sale of his vehicle which he sold in 2005. Despite him having sent the completed V5C logbook via Royal Mail to DVLA Swansea the DVLA are pursuing him for a £55 fine and are threatening court action if he does not pay.The gentleman defended his case by forwarding the new keeper details along with a signed statement saying that the V5C logbook had been sent off at the time of transfer to DVLA Swansea. DVLA are stating that it is a matter for the original owner of the vehicle to pursue confirmation from DVLA that they have received such notification.
The full article can be found along with 7 questions that were put forward to DVLA, in Classic Car weekly 6th August 2014 edition.
DVLA – Say GOODBYE to the TAX DISC
DVLA say Goodbye to the TAX DISC
From 1st October 2014 you will no longer get a paper Tax Disc but you will still have to tax your vehicle.
Please see the above link for a video or alternatively see the link below for further information.
DVLA Vehicle Tax Changes
DVLA – What the general public really think
What do the general public really think of DVLA. Well last year the DVLA was reviewed by Mary Reilly who is a non executice director at DfT. This is what she had to say and what some of her recommendations were. Review of DVLA
Private Parking Firms pay DVLA over £6 million in the last year
Private parking firms paid DVLA more than £6m in the past year for the names and addresses of drivers due to big increase in tickets being issued for cars being parked on private land.
Review of DVLA
A review of DVLA’s functions has been carried out by Mary Reilly a non-executive Director at the Department of Transport and it takes for some interesting reading.
A snippet for you – In 2012/13 the DVLA sold around 250,000 registration marks, collected some £68 million and processed over 750,000 transfer and retention applications.
To view the whole review
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/283795/review-of-dvla.pdf
DVLA LOCAL OFFICE CLOSURES
As of December 2013 all local DVLA Vehicle Registration Offices around the country were closed.
The offices in question were:
Aberdeen, Bangor, Beverley, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Dundee, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Inverness, Ipswich, Leeds, Lincoln, London Borehamwood, London Sidcup, London Wimbledon, Maidstone, Manchester, Newcastle, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Preston, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, Stockton, Swansea Vale, Theale, Truro and Worcester.
You must now send all applications including Personalised Number Plate Transfers to:
DVLA
Cherished Transfers Section
DVLA Swansea
SA99 1DS
The telephone number for any enquiries is : 0300 790 6802
Top 10 list of the most expensive UK number plates
Cherished Number Plates you either love them or hate them. They can be regarded as an investment and as a personal statement or for some they are just gratuitous items to boost the ego. Whatever your preference they can be cheap and cheerful or cost well into the £1000’s. Here is a list of the top 10 most expensive UK cherished number plates sold to date so far.
10. 1 O – sold for £210,242 in January 2009
9. K1 NGS – sold for £231,000 in December 1993
8. 1 RH – sold for £247,000 in November 2008
7. 51 NGH – sold for £254,000 in April 2006
6. GS 1 – sold for £258,775 in July 2005
5. VIP 1 – sold for £285,000 in 2006
4. M 1 – sold for £331,500 in April 2000
3. 1 D – sold for £352,411 in March 2009
2. S 1 – sold for £404,063 in September 2008
AND FINALLY – At number one we have the ultimate car enthusiast number plate!
1. F 1 – sold for £440,000 in January 2008
