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.
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