Police cars exempt from Road Tax?

[Dwight VanDriver]

Just to confirm what H.W and others have been saying all along:

Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994
Schedule 2 (Exempt Vehicles) 3A

A vehicle is an exempt vehicle when it is being used for police purposes.

Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regs 2002
Section 33

(1) In this regulation "nil licensable vehicle" means a vehicle which is an exempt vehicle

(2) A nil licence is required to be in force in respect of a nil licensable vehicle which is used or kept on a public road.

(3) A nil licence shall -

(a) be granted for a period of 12 months beginning with the first day of the month in which the application for the licence is received by the Secretary of State; and

(b) be in the same form as a vehicle licence with the word "NIL" marked in the space provided for indicating the amount of vehicle excise duty payable.

Reg 6 (2) (3) RV (Reg and Licensing) Regs

The manner in which any vehicle licence or nil licence in force for a vehicle is to be fixed to and exhibited on the vehicle in accordance with the provisions of section 33(1) or (1A) of the 1994 Act, when it is used or kept on a public road, is that specified in the following provisions of this regulation.

(3) Each such licence shall be fixed to the vehicle in a holder sufficient to protect the licence from the weather to which it would otherwise be exposed.

Nit picking personified...

dvd

[mark69sheer]

14-7 said:

Oakey said:

A case of one rule for them, another for us?

Police vehicles are exempt i.e. the rate is NIL.

Unless of course you want all police vehicles to pay road tax in which case I'm sure more would come from public coffers? Of course you'll whinge about that as well.

Also other vehicles such as RNLI, Mountain Rescue etc vehicles are exempt as well. Do you care to have a moan about that?

A mountain rescue driver wouldn't prosecute a motorist for failing to display a tax disc even if he had paid but forgot to place it in his windscreen.

I think it's only 'fair' that the police should display their discs even if there is no charge otherwise some might accuse them of hypocritical behaviour especially if that particular officer had pulled someone for the same offence.

Me I think it's silly though and only unmarked police vehicles should have to display their disc. The marked up ones should be exempt from displaying too. Allthough displaying a tax disc does prove both insurance and a valid MOT is in place so perhaps just for fleet housekeeping they should be continued to be placed.

[Cat]

mark69sheer said:

Allthough displaying a tax disc does prove both insurance and a valid MOT is in place so perhaps just for fleet housekeeping they should be continued to be placed.

It proves that they were in place on the day the RFL was bought which is slightly different

Police authority vehicles don't require an insurance policy to be in force so a tax disc is no help in that respect.

Cat

[mark69sheer]

Cat said:

mark69sheer said:

Allthough displaying a tax disc does prove both insurance and a valid MOT is in place so perhaps just for fleet housekeeping they should be continued to be placed.

It proves that they were in place on the day the RFL was bought which is slightly different

Police authority vehicles don't require an insurance policy to be in force so a tax disc is no help in that respect.

Cat

lol it gets worse.. police vehicles fail to display tax discs and drive without insurance as a matter of course...

One is tempted to ask about the MOT's dare I..

PS I am not having my usual go here I perfectly understand how the system operates.

[Nedrick]

Not sure they have MOT's as it goes as they are maintained at Police Workshops. They don't need insurance if a large enough sum is deposited IIRC but ours are all insured. None have MOTs that I know of...

And as previously said, the tax is free and just gets displayed. We have not used vehicles before due to public perception of not having one in date although I would be perfectly happy to do so.

Edited by Nedrick on Saturday 18th October 09:24

[GKP]

So if the Bib all trundled around in tax exempt 1971 MGs would they actually be able to make some cash from the VED system?

[Vaux]

Oakey said:

As per topic. Are they? I've only found one site listing vehicles that are exempt and it only states Fire Engines and Ambulances.

Highways Agency Traffic Officer vehicles don't display a VED disk.

Edited by Vaux on Saturday 18th October 11:50

[vonhosen]

They cover insurance risks as required by RTA, without having insurance in a conventional respect.
They have MOTs.
They should display a 'tax' disc.

Edited by vonhosen on Saturday 18th October 12:03

[7db]

Dwight VanDriver said:

Just to confirm what H.W and others have been saying all along:

Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994
Schedule 2 (Exempt Vehicles) 3A

A vehicle is an exempt vehicle when it is being used for police purpose

We have a lot of Police vehicles driven around our way by mechanics between the Traffic Garage where the crashed / knackered cars limp home to and the local body shops / engine places etc. They often have the blue lights covered up and signs which make it clear that the car is being repaired and not being used for Police purposes.

I assume they are roadworthy when they are being driven (we see plenty on trailers). Do they need a licence for that, and the VED is presumably invalid if not for police purposes

[Mr_annie_vxr]

7db said:

Dwight VanDriver said:

Just to confirm what H.W and others have been saying all along:

Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994
Schedule 2 (Exempt Vehicles) 3A

A vehicle is an exempt vehicle when it is being used for police purpose

We have a lot of Police vehicles driven around our way by mechanics between the Traffic Garage where the crashed / knackered cars limp home to and the local body shops / engine places etc. They often have the blue lights covered up and signs which make it clear that the car is being repaired and not being used for Police purposes.

I assume they are roadworthy when they are being driven (we see plenty on trailers). Do they need a licence for that, and the VED is presumably invalid if not for police purposes

It would come under police purposes which can be quite wide.

All police forces have insurance although not needing it as such. Most have a 50,000 or more.

[Anti Macassar]

Police forces have to buy third party insurance from the most competitive insurer, or give security of £500,000 to the Supreme Court, as can anyone else. However, the insurer often doesn't provide the claims handling service except in catastrophic incidents. Instead, the forces use a specialist firm of solicitors, or handle them within the force.

[mark69sheer]

I guess you wouldn't be able to claim for this..?

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Leeds-P...

[Greendubber]

mark69sheer said:

I guess you wouldn't be able to claim for this..?

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Leeds-P...

Thats a good point actually, I'd imagine they will just get repaired in the Bib workshops.

[Brett928S2]

14-7 said:

Oakey said:

That's kind of the point i've been trying to make, clearly those serving officers here would like to argue the toss why they should be excluded from following the rules whilst they'd be all too eager to 'uphold the law' if it was a member of the public failing to abide by them.

So if a few cars in the local nick aren't displaying tax discs do you expect them not to use the vehicles?

Hi

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU CANNOT HAVE 1 LAW FOR US AND 1 FOR YOU

[Anti Macassar]

mark69sheer said:

I guess you wouldn't be able to claim for this..?

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Leeds-P...

Thats a nice 'no claim'. If only they were all that harmless.

[Anti Macassar]

Greendubber said:

mark69sheer said:

I guess you wouldn't be able to claim for this..?

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Leeds-P...

Thats a good point actually, I'd imagine they will just get repaired in the Bib workshops.

Yes. The only risk of a claim is if officers in one car claim personal injuries against the driver of the other. And, yes, it happens.

[Mr_annie_vxr]

Brett928S2 said:

14-7 said:

Oakey said:

That's kind of the point i've been trying to make, clearly those serving officers here would like to argue the toss why they should be excluded from following the rules whilst they'd be all too eager to 'uphold the law' if it was a member of the public failing to abide by them.

So if a few cars in the local nick aren't displaying tax discs do you expect them not to use the vehicles?

Hi

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU CANNOT HAVE 1 LAW FOR US AND 1 FOR YOU

We we do on so many things.. powers of arrest, detention, entry , search, driving exemptions etc etc.. In fact a whole host of them

[blueyes]

Frankly I couldn't give a toss if they display a worthless piece of paper but I'm sure if we keep complaining they'll employ a thousand new people (paid for by us) to make sure tax discs are in place.

What worries me more is how the attitude to the police has changed. Pre-speed mega speed-enforcement (even though the police don't operate most of the vans and static cameras) I doubt if anybody would have mentioned it.

[Anti Macassar]

blueyes said:

Frankly I couldn't give a toss if they display a worthless piece of paper but I'm sure if we keep complaining they'll employ a thousand new people (paid for by us) to make sure tax discs are in place.

What worries me more is how the attitude to the police has changed. Pre-speed mega speed-enforcement (even though the police don't operate most of the vans and static cameras) I doubt if anybody would have mentioned it.

Oh they would. If they had had internet forums in those days when it were all fields round ere.

[vonhosen]

Brett928S2 said:

14-7 said:

Oakey said:

That's kind of the point i've been trying to make, clearly those serving officers here would like to argue the toss why they should be excluded from following the rules whilst they'd be all too eager to 'uphold the law' if it was a member of the public failing to abide by them.

So if a few cars in the local nick aren't displaying tax discs do you expect them not to use the vehicles?

Hi

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU CANNOT HAVE 1 LAW FOR US AND 1 FOR YOU

All the best Brett

Yep, no tax disc = don't take the vehicle out.