Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ronniej]

This post is of general motoring interest and not specific to oldies.
I hope it is in order to post it here.
I have recently changed address and mentioned this at a recent car club event.
One of the members asked me if I had advised DVLA of the change. (Which I had.)
He went on to say that he had heard that when a new housing estate opens up the Police sometimes make a point of checking the registered addresses of parked cars and take action if this has not been updated.
Frankly, I find this difficult to believe and suspect it may be just an urban myth but if it is true I would regard it as an example of over-zealous policing and a misuse of Police time.
Does anyone have any direct knowledge of this happening?

[ukdave2002]

Sounds like an urban myth to me, and I have never heard of it. Most forces have had budgets cut , with little if any time spare time, and this isn't a criminal offence, so wouldn't help them bump up any of the important convictions that they get measured on.

They do have ANPR in vehicles these days, this automatically flags anything wrong, but I don't think it's smart enough to know if a vehicle is at its kept address or just visiting !

Cheers

Dave

[Penman]

Hi
Don't know about the new estates thing, but DVLA have their own ANPR camera vans which do patrol streets occasionally and they have clamps on board which they use on untaxed vehicles.
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[Ray White]

[MikeEdwards]

I guess if the police haven't got the time or resources to do this kind of stuff, it's not that much of surprise that the DVLA will do it themselves. I would doubt they'd pay the drivers on commission - surely the ideal situation for the DVLA is that all vehicles are taxed appropriately, so that would be a steadily decreasing income.

I can't imagine how ANPR would be able to tell whether a car is at the correct address - you might just be visiting - so I suspect that's an urban myth. Reading some other forums, though, it's quite amazing how many people "forget" about changing these details then want to blame someone else when their tax reminders don't arrive.

[ka]

There was a programme recently on TV where the DVLA vans were mentioned. I do not recall exactly when, and the full details, but I do remember the DVLA spokes-person saying they have only 3 or 4 vans, and therefore do not cover the full UK, all of the time. This article was on, when the move to paperless tax discs came into force.
Whilst I mention tax discs, when do we consider that the money collected for tax discs will be scrapped completely, and the extra 10p per litre added to fuel. Or will we do as in Germany and Switzerland introduce a permit for travelling on the roads?
_________________
KA

Better three than four.

[MikeEdwards]

The usual argument against scrapping road tax and adding a small amount to fuel is from the road haulage people who use a lot more fuel than the value of their road tax / VED. However I believe that could easily be dealt with either by providing the driver with a suitable smart card to discount the fuel back to original levels, or through the accounts of the road haulage company when it comes to tax return time, though there would need to be some provision for smaller businesses and one-man "man with van" people, and I would imagine some form of up-front credit.

Whether it will ever happen is another matter.