Tax Disc Panic!!!!

[pogofish]

Letter of the law certainly but grace by any other name & that is how most people took it. Including the police, unless they were specifically targeting car tax that week. Also, when renewed, it was invariably from the expiry of the old disc, I was never one of those who tried to blag a month in between by filling-out a new form or later a SORN Declaration, although plenty did, indeed my local PO would often suggest it!

I know about the admin, my gran was a sub-postmistress, she had so many days to submit her returns to the area PO then they had a few more days to get it to Swansea. People who renewed at the last minute on the last day of the month were not her favourities as she liked to have all the paperwork away ASAP!

 

[Wyn]

btw, does anyone know what the *realistic* likelihood of getting your car towed away/crushed or whatever is if you leave it parked on a back street in an estate? Does it count as a public road? (... er... not that I'd be stupid enough to do that, nono... maybe a friend might.)

Park it in my road in Lambeth and I'd say none. At the moment there's number of untaxed and even clearly dumped vehicles along with a couple more that have a note in the window stating "tax disc stolen" or similar.

 

[grosun]

Hm... looks as though I *could* be ok then... my estate's pretty peaceful, not many people abandon cars, & my car sat for a number of days unlocked after it got broken into (I don't use it very often, so hadn't noticed), with no untoward consequences & no parts stripped from it (apart from the twats who rifled thru' my glovebox & didn't nick a thing leaving the door slightly open so the inside light stayed on & ran the battery down)... but I think I might give my local garage a bell, see if they can just stash it somewhere for a few days until I get the insurance docs thru' & can get a new tax disc. Can't do it til tomorrow evening tho', so hey, fingers crossed til then!

 

[grosun]

Park it in my road in Lambeth and I'd say none. At the moment there's number of untaxed and even clearly dumped vehicles along with a couple more that have a note in the window stating "tax disc stolen" or similar.

excellent wheeze... "oh, i'll just put a lame excuse note in the window... that'll do it"

 

[tobyjug]

I know about the admin, my gran was a sub-postmistress, she had so many days to submit her returns to the area PO then they had a few more days to get it to Swansea. People who renewed at the last minute on the last day of the month were not her favourities as she liked to have all the paperwork away ASAP!

Sorry to rain on you parade but the Post Office IT system is now directly linked with the DVLA and when you tax your vehicle the DVLA records are being updated at the same time.

 

[pogofish]

Plenty of sub offices have still to be connected in Scotland though & there are a disproportionate number of them them issuing licences - Something to do with a special dispensation after the PO reorganisation some years back left great swathes of the country without a main office. Even though it is now much quicker, thist must impact on the reporting process.

 

[nogoodboyo]

I think you'll have to wait a bit longer before the mobile car crushers start touring, tobyjug!

 

[tobyjug]

I think you'll have to wait a bit longer before the mobile car crushers start touring, tobyjug!

They were busy in Cornwall not that long ago, I think 150 plus cars were crushed.

I also suggest go to GOOGLE select UK pages only and enter:- untaxed cars crushed

You may well be very shocked.

 

[nogoodboyo]

Ah, but they do things funny down there.

Only a matter of time though, you're probably right.

 

[tobyjug]

Ah, but they do things funny down there.

Only a matter of time though, you're probably right.

I have just edited my last message, I suggest you read it. Islington seems to have been targeted by the crusher.

 

[nogoodboyo]

They were busy in Cornwall not that long ago, I think 150 plus cars were crushed.

I also suggest go to GOOGLE select UK pages only and enter:- untaxed cars crushed

You may well be very shocked.

What, the story about cars beong impounded and crushed if not claimed? That's not new is it?

I realise it's important to tax yor car/bike, and I realise you can be nicked if you don't. I do, however, think that the idea of cars being crushed days after the expiry of their tax is a misleading one.

Fair?

 

[tobyjug]

What, the story about cars beong impounded and crushed if not claimed? That's not new is it?

I realise it's important to tax yor car/bike, and I realise you can be nicked if you don't. I do, however, think that the idea of cars being crushed days after the expiry of their tax is a misleading one.

Fair?

It is not misleading at all if the crusher happens to be working in your area.
There are mobile car crushers on contract in some areas.

 

[nogoodboyo]

That's not what the Islington story you pointed out said, though. All the stories I've heard or read refer to cars being towed, impounded and then crushed if not claimed - not the same as a mobile crusher, if indeed such a pointless thing exists.

It feels like a pretty pointless argument really. Never mind eh.

 

[tobyjug]

- not the same as a mobile crusher, if indeed such a pointless thing exists.
.

They exist alright and a very excellent job they have been doing.

 

[grosun]

It is not misleading at all if the crusher happens to be working in your area.
There are mobile car crushers on contract in some areas.

from what I could understand, it seemed that the mobile crusher was more for the spectacle, as a kind of warning to those who might not tax their cars... not for scooping cars off the street & instantly turning them into cubes!

DVLA’s mobile vehicle crusher gave a demonstration at Drayton Park Primary School, where the car baler lifted, crushed and cubed cars in less than three minutes

plus, further on in the same document:

From 3 November 2003, the End of Life Vehicle Regulations 2003 prohibits the crushing of untaxed and abandoned vehicles. Instead at the end of their life all vehicles must be taken apart piece by piece, with various parts being recycled. The DVLA hope to provide practical demonstrations of this process in future untaxed vehicle operations

hehe... can't see that watching a bunch of guys meticulously taking a car apart & popping some pieces in the recycling bin would be quite as entertaining for the kids.

 

[tobyjug]

hehe... can't see that watching a bunch of guys meticulously taking a car apart & popping some pieces in the recycling bin would be quite as entertaining for the kids.

http://www.epsomguardian.co.uk/news..._deal_crushing_blow_to_unlawful_motorists.php
Dumped, untaxed and uninsured cars have been removed from the streets of Epsom and Ewell in a three-day purge on nuisance vehicles.

To highlight awareness of Operation Cubit, which took place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week, the DVLA brought a massive mobile car crusher to the Kiln Lane car park to warn motorists what can happen to their vehicles if they do not obey the law.

 

[grosun]

http://www.epsomguardian.co.uk/news..._deal_crushing_blow_to_unlawful_motorists.php
Dumped, untaxed and uninsured cars have been removed from the streets of Epsom and Ewell in a three-day purge on nuisance vehicles.

To highlight awareness of Operation Cubit, which took place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week, the DVLA brought a massive mobile car crusher to the Kiln Lane car park to warn motorists what can happen to their vehicles if they do not obey the law.

mm... note the date... "10:40am Friday 28th November 2003"

Strange though, 'cos it's after what the other article claimed was the legal date... maybe they'd already stripped the cars of all recyclable materials in preparation for crushing?

Either way, I see absolutely no suggestion anywhere that they're actually scooping cars up off the street & crushing them. Sounds like that's the impression they're maybe trying to give, in order to alarm people, but their documented procedures seem to involve clamping, towing away & then crushing if the car's unclaimed after a certain amount of time, which is fair enough (though you'd think they could auction them off or something if they were still roadworthy, make themselves some money back on all the towing etc. charges).

 

[Velouria]

Bollocks. Have no idea where my MOT is.

What worries me more is the motorbike in my parents' shed that DVLA stopped sending me SORN notices for. I'm shit scared to actually get in touch with the bastards in case they ream me for a fortune...

 

[detective-boy]

It is not misleading at all if the crusher happens to be working in your area.
There are mobile car crushers on contract in some areas.

If my car or bike was seized and crushed a day after it's tax ran out, without any warning / clamping / removal / etc., because of some administrative difficulty in getting it taxed on the dot, then I would expect to succeed with a case against the DVLA or whoever did it as it would be grossly disproportionate to the crime and, hence, in blatant breach of the Human Rights Act.

 

[detective-boy]

As for mobile car crushers, that sounds a little implausible as the environmental regulations mean that all hazardous and / or recyclable materials must, by law, be stripped from a vehicle before it is crushed. That is why a large number of breakers yards went out of business a couple of years ago. Whilst I guess it could be possible to do this on a mobile unit, I really cannot see that it would be cost effective compared to dragging them away to a purpose built conveyor belt set-up.

 

[tobyjug]

As for mobile car crushers, that sounds a little implausible as the environmental regulations mean that all hazardous and / or recyclable materials must, by law, be stripped from a vehicle before it is crushed. .

As cars designed to be recycled have only been in production for a short time. It is relatively easy to take the battery and tyres off of an old banger and crush it. The mobile crushers are a fact of life albeit temporary until all the old bangers are gone off of the roads.
There are stacks of references to their use on Google.

 

[Giles]

Sorry to rain on you parade but the Post Office IT system is now directly linked with the DVLA and when you tax your vehicle the DVLA records are being updated at the same time.

Well, when I got my last tax disc, the bloke still just took it out of a book, and hand-wrote it out. Didn't make any use of a computer at all. In fact, he did not even look at my other documents either. Just smiled and waved them away when proffered.

That was mid-August, BTW.

Giles..

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

Well, when I got my last tax disc, the bloke still just took it out of a book, and hand-wrote it out. Didn't make any use of a computer at all. In fact, he did not even look at my other documents either. Just smiled and waved them away when proffered.

That was mid-August, BTW.

Giles..

yes well aren't you the same twat who illigally registered their car at aflase address to ensure that you didn't get any speeding tickets... i can imagine the type of tax disk you have is it drawn in crayola...

 

[Giles]

yes well aren't you the same twat who illigally registered their car at aflase address to ensure that you didn't get any speeding tickets... i can imagine the type of tax disk you have is it drawn in crayola...

No, it's a real one, from my local post office. I'm not that good at art!

Giles..

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

shame it's as invalid as your insurence and you mot eh...

 

[Giles]

shame it's as invalid as your insurence and you mot eh...

Oh, please don't start that again, you ignorant barrack-room lawyer.

Anyway, I don't care. I have all the pieces of paper I need, I can show them to whoever if required and everyone is happy, except, it would appear, you.

Giles..

 

[detective-boy]

It was with some trepidation that I set out this morning, because my car tax ran out at midnight. By my calculation therefore, when I pulled up outside a post office (Chessington) at 9.06am I was illegal by no less than 9 hours and six minutes. Surely my poor little car would have been eaten by the time I got back at about 9.10am. And probably the computer had already issued a fixed penalty and I would return home to find the baliffs had taken goods and chattels to the value of £170 ...

But no.

I wandered in. The nice lady took a bit of a look at the insurance and MOT (wearing an expression which looked distinctly like "I should pretend to check these but I really have no idea what they are, let alone whether they are correct"), accepted my cheque and wrote out - by hand - a nice little ble tax disc. She then, without even looking at a computer, let alone scanning or typing in any information, threw all the paperwork into a large tray which contained a number of similar forms (presumably the last few days worth unless they'd had a VERY busy six minutes!). And when I went out my car was still there, in one piece, without so much as a parking warden in the vicinity. Clearly there has been a serious miscarriage of justice today!

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

Oh, please don't start that again, you ignorant barrack-room lawyer.

Anyway, I don't care. I have all the pieces of paper I need, I can show them to whoever if required and everyone is happy, except, it would appear, you.

Giles..

or any one who you hit whose property you damage or for that matter you when you finally have and accident personally i hope you wrap youself roudn a tree then get about 6 years ...

 

[snadge]

As cars designed to be recycled have only been in production for a short time. It is relatively easy to take the battery and tyres off of an old banger and crush it. The mobile crushers are a fact of life albeit temporary until all the old bangers are gone off of the roads.
There are stacks of references to their use on Google.

Toby hate to piss on ya again but cars are only towed and crushed when they are abandoned or have been left untaxed for an appropiate time, not within 14 days at least, maybe a month or two and after a "police aware" sticker has been attached, after a week then they can be towed and crushed.

mobile car crusher is utter garbage btw, or do you mean the portable, easily set up modern ones, THAT STILL NEED A VEHICLE BROUGHT TO IT.

or or you trying to tell us that if my car is untaxed for a day I'll find a recycleable cube in it's place in the morning.

you're the gobshite that lives in every village.

BTW 80 quid fines are not sent out immediately you fail to re tax your car, they are sent out on the first of the following month

 

[Giles]

or any one who you hit whose property you damage or for that matter you when you finally have and accident personally i hope you wrap youself roudn a tree then get about 6 years ...

I'm beginning to hope I run you over, accidentally of course. Just to piss you off. What are you, a wannabe traffic warden?

Why does it offend you so much if I'm bending a few rules?

Do you and tobyjug get some kind of thrill at the thought of rigidly and ruthlessly applied disciplinary measures? To hear you talk, you just love it. Why?

Giles..