New Tax Disc & Civil Liberty or Just Paranoid?
Discussion
So I completed the DVLA tax disc form and signed it. I then toddled down to the Post Office with it and my 165 quid, MOT and insurance.
The new tax disc has a bar code that ties it to the bar code on the application form and has a hologram to presumably prevent forgeries.
The Post Office told me that the new system meant that they no longer needed the form and gave me back the signed declaration which I thought was strange?
Remote reading of the tax disc allows it to be electronically checked against the vehicle on which it is displayed and also provides all the registered owner's personal information held by the DVLA.
I realise that everyone should be encouraged and even compelled to pay their tax disc, but is this new tax disc system overkill?
With all these new cameras, robotic vision and now tax disc readers, am I becoming paranoid or is the UK becoming like 1984?
Can anyone reassure me?
The new tax disc has a bar code that ties it to the bar code on the application form and has a hologram to presumably prevent forgeries.
The Post Office told me that the new system meant that they no longer needed the form and gave me back the signed declaration which I thought was strange?
Remote reading of the tax disc allows it to be electronically checked against the vehicle on which it is displayed and also provides all the registered owner's personal information held by the DVLA.
I realise that everyone should be encouraged and even compelled to pay their tax disc, but is this new tax disc system overkill?
With all these new cameras, robotic vision and now tax disc readers, am I becoming paranoid or is the UK becoming like 1984?
Can anyone reassure me?
yes - put it into one of your old yellowed, tax disc holders with dust and dead flies adhering to the sticky bits and no technology is going to read it ! Or in my case wrap it round the front roll cage and although you can see the date through the screen you cannot see all of the barcode at once.
Toffer said:I can. The UK is not becoming like 1984 ... it became like 1984 quite some time ago!
[ ... ]
With all these new cameras, robotic vision and now tax disc readers, am I becoming paranoid or is the UK becoming like 1984?
Can anyone reassure me?
George Orwell was nothing if not prescient. Read 1984 and Animal Farm again and see how close they both are to life today.
Streaky
streaky said:
I generally insert my tax disc upside down in its holder.
That won't stop the barcode being read ... and if it's anything like parking tickets, it's illegal- Streaky
Well I have stuck the tax disc in the bottom near side of the Griff windscreen...strangely the TVR logo and manufacturer's details inscribed on the windscreen completely obscure the barcode...a nuisance but what can I do? A - Move the disc so the barcode can be read and it is improperly displayed and I commit an offence or
B - Leave it where it is and commit an offence because the barcode can not be read...I did not design the tax disc or windscreen!
(Thank you PW for your foresight!
) Now where is my tape measure, as I need to go to town and have to park!
The purpose of the Bar Code is purely admin. If you followed the Clerk at the PO when you re-newed your Licence she ran the Bar Code Reader over your reminder and then the New Licence. In the old days PO used to send paper renewal details to DVLA - now all done electronically and records updated in a jiff.
APNR or any other piece of imaginary equipment does not read Bar Codes out on the road.
DVD
APNR or any other piece of imaginary equipment does not read Bar Codes out on the road.
DVD
Dwight VanDriver said:
The purpose of the Bar Code is purely admin. If you followed the Clerk at the PO when you re-newed your Licence she ran the Bar Code Reader over your reminder and then the New Licence. In the old days PO used to send paper renewal details to DVLA - now all done electronically and records updated in a jiff.
APNR or any other piece of imaginary equipment does not read Bar Codes out on the road.
DVD
I agree with your analysis...but surely WADR if both barcodes are read by the same system they are married together? It does not seem to me unreasonable to expect the data from the form to be accessible from the bar code on the tax disc?
Bar codes can be read remotely and tax discs can be to...no doubt about that! Also number plates can be read robotically using digital imaging no doubt about that because it is how the London congestion charging system works. The camera that "sees" you in the congestion charge zone does a look up of your number plate and if you are not on the "paid list" the system is alerted and if you do not pay the fee a fine is generated automatically.
What are the new green coloured TRAFFICMASTER style cameras appearing on some of our roads? They are normally blue and sense traffic flow...can they be checking tax discs?
There are new scamera vans that wait at the side of the road that read number plates and check if they have a current tax disc...stop the car zap the new barcode and you have every recorded bit of information about the vehicle's registered owner?
Maybe not paranoid....just realistic?
Don't blame me, I never voted for them!
Toffer, the two barcodes are married together - they have to be. One tells the system who you are, the other confirms that you have purchased a valid tax disk.
However, reading the barcode on the tax disk is useless unless you have the correct access to the computer database that holds the married data.
bluementhol - what you do is, and has been for along time, illegal. You must display a valid tax disk. You are not allowed to display a copy or faximile. You can be prosecuted for it (I know people who have been). It is a real pain for anyone who owns a convertible or a motorbike where they are easily nicked - but it is the law.
However, reading the barcode on the tax disk is useless unless you have the correct access to the computer database that holds the married data.
bluementhol - what you do is, and has been for along time, illegal. You must display a valid tax disk. You are not allowed to display a copy or faximile. You can be prosecuted for it (I know people who have been). It is a real pain for anyone who owns a convertible or a motorbike where they are easily nicked - but it is the law.
icamm said:
bluementhol - what you do is, and has been for along time, illegal. You must display a valid tax disk. You are not allowed to display a copy or faximile. You can be prosecuted for it (I know people who have been). It is a real pain for anyone who owns a convertible or a motorbike where they are easily nicked - but it is the law.
if i have exposed front wishbones on my 7, can i use a motorbike style tax disc holder mounted on them to keep my disc safe? i have got a windscreen if thats what youre thinking, but the disk itself would go missing with irritating regularity if it was put there.
paolow said:I'm not sure about that. I think there is specific legislation about where it is supposed to be displayed. Mind you all the motorbike ones are is just a screw on cover (like a jam jar lid with a whole cut out a a plastic insert). So are almost as easy to nick the disk out of.
bluementhol - what you do is, and has been for along time, illegal. You must display a valid tax disk. You are not allowed to display a copy or faximile. You can be prosecuted for it (I know people who have been). It is a real pain for anyone who owns a convertible or a motorbike where they are easily nicked - but it is the law.
The roadside tax disc checking systems look at the registration number of the vehicle and see if that matches up against the list of puchased discs or not. Because the fact that you have paid has been electronically stored and noted against your vehicle's registration number I don't see that its necessary to display the disc any more. Keep it at home as a receipt in case the electronics cock up somewhere but really it's an irrelevance.
Now that they are going to nab more people for not having a disc, does the increased efficiency of the tax mean that we're going to have the extra monies collected restoring our 3rd world road system to a 2nd world one ?
Now that they are going to nab more people for not having a disc, does the increased efficiency of the tax mean that we're going to have the extra monies collected restoring our 3rd world road system to a 2nd world one ?
_Al_ said:
I'm confused. Why is this a bad thing?
You're registration number carries the same info, all except the fact your vehicle is taxed.
For once I think this scheme is worth having..
(unless someone can point out something I've missed)
That sort of sensible clear thinking has no place on this thread, stop it at once.
I`ve been saying for years that something simular should be introduced to tell whether a car is insured or not, now with this new bar code technoligy my case is even stronger, and before any one says " you need to be insured to get a disk" yes like a temporary cover note can tax a car for a year! The RFL is yet another compulsory tax, fine we can have to live with that, what we can`t live with is scum driving around uninsured, and having to display proof of insurance will hopfully drive some of these "citizens" off the roads.
te51cle said:
Because the fact that you have paid has been electronically stored and noted against your vehicle's registration number I don't see that its necessary to display the disc any more.
I have an old style disc, but i have not displayed it for 6 months and no one has mentioned it.
I think you are right, traffic wardens et al can now tell your car is taxed whether they see a tax disc or not.
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