Two Million And Rising

[jambutty]

A report in the news today suggests that there are over TWO MIILION vehicles on our roads today that do not have a current tax disc on display. This is an actual INCREASE on last year.

But hang on, what were all those adverts about on how the DVLA can tell which car is or is not taxed and the registered keeper of an untaxed car would be brought to heel and even the car crushed? It seems to me that it was just an almighty bluff in the hope that those people without a tax disk for their car would rush off and get one. Some may have done but most, it seems, have not and have been joined by others. Another costly and wasted effort on the part of a government that is increasingly becoming a laughing stock.

You don’t need a university education or an ology in finance or physics to realise that before a vehicle can turn a wheel just one revolution it will need fuel.

The simple and most obvious solution, and it is not just mine alone, is to scrap the tax disk altogether and save masses of money on its administration and increase the price of the fuel. Not only will this solve the untaxed car problem at a stroke it will also spread the load fairly between those who travel thousands of miles per year and those who can barely muster a couple of thousand miles. By their very nature gas-guzzlers will pay more to travel the highways and byways than the small economical car. Use the roads more – pay more. Pollute more – pay more. Is that too simple for the cretins in Parliament to understand?

I can hear counter arguments already and no doubt ‘insurance’ and MOT will be thrown into the debate. Problems are not for ignoring but for solving and the insurance question can also be solved by increasing the price of fuel. Thus every time that you buy some fuel for your car your car is automatically covered for third party insurance. If you want better cover for your brand new car then go and buy some extra cover. It’s not rocket science but simple common dog.

What about the MOT – you can’t tax your car if it doesn’t have an MOT, although this only applies to cars over three years old. There are plenty of garages who will pass a borderline or even rogue car and in any case the MOT’s value is worthless the minute you drive away from the garage. It may be valid for one year but it’s true validity is that on a specific day, at a specific time the tested vehicle was deemed to be within the law for taking that vehicle on the public highway. Quite frankly the MOT certificate isn’t worth the paper that it is printed on. But as well as receiving an MOT certificate, a disk would also be issued and it would have to be displayed as the current tax disk is displayed.

Of course there will always be someone who will forge an MOT disk but think on this. Would you rather have your car damaged by a vehicle that does not have an MOT or one without insurance? If third party insurance was included in the cost of fuel you could make a claim.

[chav1]

in my opinion they are not crushing enough cars

i think you used to have 14 days leeway to tax your car and that should still apply but no tax disk then yer car shoudl be taken away and crushed if it is on a public highway

also cars parked on double yellow and zig zags shoud be taken away and crushed even if teh driver is sat in it waiting to pick somone up from a shop or talking to his friend , removal of owner before crushing the car is optional and at the polices discretion

[***Mr D***]

I can see you point on Untaxed vehicles, but the fight is still on.

With the new ruling coming to play soon, that any vehicle you own it will have to be insured.
Should reduce the amount of tax dodgers, as they are probably in the same group as those that dont have insurance.

The Petrol Increase I have to argue, how would you judge a Price increase? It would grealy affect UK business who need fule to survive in business, and find it hard enough to compete at the moment.

As for fule providing Third Party Insurance, how would you judge a premium to fuel increase?

I presume you dont do much driving?

[chav1]

tax disks for cycles should be implimented , childs cycles shoudl be exempt , i mean the ones that 5 year olds ride as an example

infact some form of insurance as well considering how many accidents they cause


time to start hittng the cyclist i say

[***Mr D***]

Originally Posted by chav1

infact some form of insurance as well considering how many accidents they cause

I would agree with you.

You can Get it.

http://www.eandl.co.uk/insurance/cycle

[chav1]

Originally Posted by ***Mr D***

I would agree with you.

You can Get it.

http://www.eandl.co.uk/insurance/cycle

should be compulsary and powers to stamp on their spokes if not using lights on tehir bikes would be good too

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by ***Mr D***

I can see you point on Untaxed vehicles, but the fight is still on.

With the new ruling coming to play soon, that any vehicle you own it will have to be insured.
Should reduce the amount of tax dodgers, as they are probably in the same group as those that dont have insurance.

The Petrol Increase I have to argue, how would you judge a Price increase? It would grealy affect UK business who need fule to survive in business, and find it hard enough to compete at the moment.

As for fule providing Third Party Insurance, how would you judge a premium to fuel increase?

I presume you dont do much driving?

So some new ruling is supposed to come into force that says if you own a vehicle it will have to be insured? It may have escaped your notice ***Mr D*** but that is the case now and has been for donkey’s years, except that it pertained to a vehicle on the public highway not just owning one. I cannot see this control freak government going as far as to force people to insure a vehicle just because they own it. In any case if they can’t enforce the current insurance law what chance is there of enforcing this new one?

Well let’s see. The average motorist will do 15,000 miles in a year at an average of 35 mpg with petrol at say £5 per gallon. With road tax at - well there are various prices now - but for the sake of argument let’s say £200 as an average. I don’t know because my car is a Motability lease vehicle and it comes with tax and insurance paid.

So a motorist would use about 450 gallons, spread over the cost of road tax that would be about 45p per gallon. So petrol would have to go up by about 45p a gallon or 10p a litre.

You could do a similar calculation for third party insurance. I’ll let you do that.

With over 2 million un-taxed cars on the road the losses to the treasury are, if we take the average car tax at £200 pa, around £400 million each year. So the increase could come down to just 5p per litre with say 10p for third party insurance.

As you point out most if not all of those 2 million un-taxed cars would not have insurance so if they damage your car your only come back is to sue the driver if he I still alive or pay for the repairs yourself or pay the first whatever it is and lose your no claims bonus and that could be expensive. Even if you successfully sue the driver there is no guarantee that he will pay up. He’s hardly likely to have any spare money if he didn’t insure and tax the car in the first place.

How much driving I do isn’t relevant but if you must know, come next April when I will have had my present car for one year I will probably have managed about 2,000 miles. When I returned my last car in April 2006 it had done 4,500 miles in 3 years and never been faster than 60 mph.

However don’t forget that if petrol were increased to cover the cost of road tax and third party insurance I would be the loser because as I stated earlier my car comes with free tax and insurance.

The government doesn’t like one ‘catch all’ tax because then tax rises will stand out and hit you in the face. But a penny here and tuppence there isn’t quite as noticeable. The more complicated the situation the easier it is to hide sneaky tax rises.

[Ianto.W.]

To many people who do not need a motor car have one why a status symbol, some families have two or three cars why? to many car journeys are made by one person per car, going to work the perfect example, car sharing should be made compulsory going to and from work. If less motorcars were on the road the bus service would then come back into its own as it was in the 60s and 70s, people who work within a 5 mile radius of their homes have no excuse for driving there, unless they use the cars in the course of their working day.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by jambutty

How much driving I do isn’t relevant but if you must know, come next April when I will have had my present car for one year I will probably have managed about 2,000 miles. When I returned my last car in April 2006 it had done 4,500 miles in 3 years and never been faster than 60 mph.

Don't know about returning your last car with only 4,500 miles on it, sounds to me you should be returning your driving licence, bet you are a real joy to be behind on a country lane

[***Mr D***]

Originally Posted by jambutty

So some new ruling is supposed to come into force that says if you own a vehicle it will have to be insured? It may have escaped your notice ***Mr D*** but that is the case now and has been for donkey’s years, except that it pertained to a vehicle on the public highway not just owning one. I cannot see this control freak government going as far as to force people to insure a vehicle just because they own it. In any case if they can’t enforce the current insurance law what chance is there of enforcing this new one?

I shouldnt of said 'coming in to force soon' as I am not the decision maker.

Continuous Enforcement.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/group...033114-02.hcsp

[Ianto.W.]

Originally Posted by steeljack

Don't know about returning your last car with only 4,500 miles on it, sounds to me you should be returning your driving licence, bet you are a real joy to be behind on a country lane

I sense a few torpedoes are on your way steeljack

[jambutty]

Just the one Ianto.W. Just the one.

Fire one!
One running true sir!
I have yet to meet a country lane where the speed limit is more than 40 mph in the UK steeljack. This might seem to be a strange concept to some people but if the road sign declares a speed limit of say 40 mph I do not exceed that limit regardless of the idiots behind me. Actually that is not strictly true because in the UK there is a leeway of 10% plus 2 mph so if gravity causes my speed to increase I will allow it to rise to 46mph before taking action to keep to the limit. If the road conditions are such that it isn’t safe to travel at that speed I slow down to a speed that I consider to be safe. Others may and probably do have a different view on the situation and will feel comfortable at a higher speed. We can’t all be Stirling Moss’s.

I have been known to pull over and wave past the idiots behind me and let them reach the morgue before their time.

I KNOW that I’m not a bad driver and that doesn’t mean to say that I consider myself to be a good driver - that is someone else’s call.

Now why should I be returning my license? A clean one for more than 20 years I may add. My car is not a status symbol. It is a tool to be used when required and being retired my annual mileage is going to be low.

I don’t care how drivers behind me feel, as I will generally not exceed the speed limit although I will go with the flow when required to even if it means breaking the speed limit. What I won’t do is scream up to a speed camera, slam the anchors on before reaching it and then burn rubber after passing it. Sadly too many drivers do just that and tailgate others in the process.

Hit amidships skipper.
Roger torps, nice shooting!

[chav1]

trough of bowland is 60mph

well ime pretty sure i saw national speed limit signs down there althhough i dont recomend it in some parts theres some pretty sharp corners

[Ianto.W.]

Originally Posted by chav1

trough of bowland is 60mph

well ime pretty sure i saw national speed limit signs down there althhough i dont recomend it in some parts theres some pretty sharp corners

Thats probably to get rid of drivers steeljack was refering to, just joking jambutty keep those torpedoes stowed Seriously chav if you tried to do 60 through the trough you would certainly finish up in it.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by Ianto.W.

Thats probably to get rid of drivers steeljack was refering to, just joking jambutty keep those torpedoes stowed Seriously chav if you tried to do 60 through the trough you would certainly finish up in it.

Are you trying to stir things up ???

he probably drives like he's steering a ship , sail before steam and all that