By: A.C.
You might be aware that UK Government is abolishing the 93 year old system of issuing a paper road tax disc from 1 October 2014. Then again, like many people this story might just have passed you by.
You will have to make yourself aware of these impending changes as the fines for not obeying them, will incur penalties up to £1000 , plus charges and fines incurred by a vehicle you no longer own.
The main changes for the ordinary owner of a vehicle will be, that when selling a vehicle, the tax paid is non –transferable. So a tax refund has to be immediately applied for regarding any outstanding months already paid. Similarly, an immediate purchase of tax for a buyer has to be made.
So how will the Police know a vehicle is not taxed? The electronic database will be interrogated by the Police when they use Automatic Number Plate recognition ( ANPR) to determine if the vehicle tax has been paid. This is in basic terms a camera that recognises the number plate, and immediately interrogates databases for information about that vehicle. The Police are able to see immediately if the vehicle is taxed, insured and MoT’d.
Hopefully enforcement officers from the Local Council will have access to the database.
The Motability Scheme is keeping its customers updated here .
In researching this story and how this affects the disabled, I did find this very useful FAQ by a local newspaper whose journalist asks the vital question about disability.
“How does this work for vehicles that are exempt from payment of vehicle tax, e.g. Disabled tax class?
The requirement to apply for vehicle tax will not change for any individual including those in the Disabled Tax Class. The only change will be that the paper tax disc will no longer be issued and required to be displayed on a vehicle windscreen.”
Unfortunately I cannot find at the moment any reliable information on Mobility Scooters.
On speaking to the driver of road legal mobility scooter today, they were not aware of changes or any information being printed on renewal notices or being sent out.
Presumably, the exemption notice will be recorded on the database following application at renewal time, but no disc will be sent. It looks efficient, and slick, but like all Government databases, we shall wait and see what anomalies are thrown up.