Tuesday 8th March 2005

DVLA gets heavy with non-payers

CCJs taken out against 100,000 motorists

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The Department of Transport is playing hardball with those who don't pay their road tax. According to the Telegraph, over 100,000 motorists have been fined over £1,500 each in the last nine months in a tax avoidance crackdown. And each of them could end up with black marks on their credit record.

The report said that the driver and vehicle licensing agency (DVLA) in Swansea has started applying for County Court Judgements (CCJs) against the 80,000 motorists who, in the second half of last year, refused to pay their fines; allowing this news to leak out appears suggests an element of deterrence.

Since the start of 2005, the number of CCJs has increased, with the registry that monitors CCJs expecting over one-third of them to be lodged by the DVLA. If the average fine of £1,500 were not enough, the smear on your credit record is, with a CCJ about the worst such blemish you can attract, according to experts at Experian, the credit history agency.

CCJs can sit on your credit file for up to six years, and may be monitored by a panoply of financial organisations, including banks, insurers, credit card companies, mortgage lenders, mobile phone companies and even, in some cases, prospective employers. Even if you get credit, it's bound to cost you more, say experts.

However the DVLA, which estimated that some 1.75 million vehicles of the 22 million plus on the UK's roads were untaxed, has never publicly acknowledged that it would seek a CCJ against individuals failing to pay their fines.

[dinkus]

Good job. And go after them for being un-insured too...

[chimyellow]

dinkus said:

Good job. And go after them for being un-insured too...

Here, here

[Rob_the_Sparky]

TBH I don't give a stuff whether a car is taxed or not and would rather see the tax abolished.

Just keep it MOTed and Insured and display these in windscreen.

Rob

P.S. All my cars on the road are taxed.

[hughesie2]

I got caught out recently
Thread here

[medicineman]

As long as the records are upto date. I had some hassle on a car I had sold and informed them off. But recieved no less than 4 threatening letters from them and no apology in the end.

[LuS1fer]

CCJ's?

Ha!

Try Ocean Finance........


LOL

[burwoodman]

The 80k motorists are probably all phamtoms..errors in their system. Stupid fools. As long as the cops hand out producers rather than arrest driver/tow car this will never improve.

[russian rocket]

I have a fine for non payment of road tax that I sold 6 months earlier. I even have a letter from them thanking me for telling them I am no longer the registered keeper. bloody arse up if you ask me

[Dr Strangelove]

Excpert from the article: "...And each of them could end up with black marks on their credit record."

THIS IS F*****G OUTRAGEOUS!.

[sgt^roc]

dinkus said:

Good job. And go after them for being un-insured too...

fu=ining 100,000 motorist is just a declaration of the fact that they simply cannot get the money its time to change the system remember these are the same people you weant to support you and vote

[agent006]

Dr Strangelove said:

Excpert from the article: "...And each of them could end up with black marks on their credit record." THIS IS F*****G OUTRAGEOUS!.

Why? Poor credit rating goes hand in hand with CCJs.

[tvradict]

Well if this is true then I await my court summons. I have a feeling someone is trying to cover up my case.

In Brief.

I sold my old Orion to a bloke who simply stripped it and then scrapped it. Took him all of a week. When I sold it, I did the logbook stuff etc and sent it off.

That was in the January, in February the Tax ran out. I have so far had 3 letters from the DVLA, the last one of which being a Notice of Commencement of Legal Proceedings to get the fine they slapped on me. This was replied to with a letter and I included the last 2 letters I sent to them. That was a few months ago and I have yet to recieve a reply.

Incompetant to$$ers!

[xxplod]

Simple fact is - the VEL should be scrapped. The Police can't be bothered to enforce it. It should be put on petrol, this is then totally fair - user pays. Think how much TAXPAYERS CA$H would be saved by DVLA redundancies by not having this ludicrous system. The old argument of it being a check on insurance/MOT is rubbish these days. Insurance details are on PNC, and MOT details will be in the near future. Of course this information is not complete, it never can be, but it is a whole lot more comprehensive than a system which requires a car to be insured/MOT'd for one day a year!

[BigGee]

People who don't pay their tax in all probability have CCJ's so it won't make a bit of difference.

Black listed from mortgage's they don't need them since
we(people who work) pay for their housing.

I'll stop now before I really start to rant!!!

[scoobybloke]

On a more practical note - why not abolish car tax and add a penny or two to a litre of fuel? You get a totally fair system where people pay in proportion to their road use. The extra penny or so should also be enough to fund a central insurance scheme to provide a minimum third party liability cover to all drivers. Two massive problems car tax and uninsured drivers, solved over night. Makes you wonder why they haven't tried it...

[ed.]

Above ideas agreed with, if they could also stop using motorists to top-up the countries coffers it would be nice

[dnb]

An "average" car (say 30 mpg doing 12k miles per year) uses 1800 litres of petrol per year. A tax disc costs somewhere around £160. This indicates something like 8p on the price of a litre of fuel so the government gets the same revenue input.

It should be more efficient without all the disc admin though...

[wiggy001]

scoobybloke said:

On a more practical note - why not abolish car tax and add a penny or two to a litre of fuel? You get a totally fair system where people pay in proportion to their road use. The extra penny or so should also be enough to fund a central insurance scheme to provide a minimum third party liability cover to all drivers. Two massive problems car tax and uninsured drivers, solved over night. Makes you wonder why they haven't tried it...

No no no and no! Abolish VED yes but do not add any more tax of fuel, it's high enough as it is thankyouverymuch.

There is more than enough money being paid to this government in the form of taxes. If they'd just reduce the red-tape and increase the common sense, all would be solved. This is across the board: motoring, NHS, Schools, Civil Service etc etc etc...

Ever gonna happen under Nanny Bliar? Don't hold your breathe! until they tax the air you breathe, that is...

[froggie]

the majority of cars towed are unroadworthy,pieces of scrap that should be off the road anyway.
people should not live above their means and credit should be restricted to things like morgages,i beleive if ya want it earn it.how anoying is it when the person in front of u puls out a fing credit card,or store card?
dont put it on petrol what about us that use it for pleasure purposes.
i think the dvla should of sorted their acts out first and not grab so much money.
but also they should persu the recoverd stolen disks for the person who got the window smashed and stereo etc nicked wich wood also clear the plods crime rate up .they and plod turn a blind eye to it.too mutch like work and no gain for them boath.
and the untaxed person should also have to proove
insurance witch they dont have to do at the moment
nor should they be allowed amnesty for 14 days to
tax it and alowed to drive home from the pound un
taxed
what about the person with morethan 1 car that cant use two at a time, should it not be to say validate a drivers licence for a year?

[gnasher328]

I do not see why I should pay tax on two cars and four motorcycles when I can only use one at a time. Put the tax on fuel then you pay for what you use and it automatically penalises poor economy.