An end to the "where do I put my VED disc" questions?

[don_matese]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25223631 can it be someone has actually used their brain for once and come up with a scheme that would work, although thepremium do we need to pay to use the monthly payment option is ridiculous

[Dirty]

Dam! :)
.
.
.
.

[Dukedesmo]

The only 'downside' maybe that without a physical disc, it will be easier to forget that it's due meaning that when you finally remember and then do it online, you'll then get the 'You have committed an offence and our enforcement team will be contacting you' email, followed swiftly by an £80 (or more, by then) fine. :o

Unless, of course that's part of the plan... :rolleyes:

[don_matese]

well, yes, unless you go for the monthly option - a bit like the telly license - where it should just roll over ad infinitum as long as you are showing a valid MOT/Insurance on the database...

[utopia]

I quite like the monthly option for the reason that it might enable me to tax the monster for the 9 months of the year that I actually ride it.
Ok, I know you can get a 12 month disc and reclaim the outstanding months if you take it off the road for the winter, but that's a hassle that I can't be bothered with usually, and the cost penalty makes it hardly worthwhile.
With the new system, I will be able to switch seamlessly between the monster and my winter hack.
I think the new system will be a boon for those bikers who own a stable of bikes, as they can just buy a single month's tax for whichever bike they fancy riding.
There might be fairer systems maybe, like putting the tax on fuel so its proportional to miles covered using any vehicle, and is also proportional to emissions, but that would displease the likes of the road haulage industry.
On the whole, I think I welcome the new system.

Edit, a few days later.....
Actually I may have got hold of the wrong end of the stick there.
While you will be able to pay monthly, I'm not sure that the tax itself can actually be bought on a monthly basis .
I now suspect that you will still only be able to buy it in six or twelve month packages.
If that's the case then I change my view on the new system.
I now think that it offers little or no advantage for the user.

[Black Bob]

The whole VED system is a ****ing shambles.

I can only ride/drive one vehicle on the road at a time, therefore I should only pay one lot of "road tax".

Period.

[Dirty]

The whole VED system is a ****ing shambles.

I can only ride/drive one vehicle on the road at a time, therefore I should only pay one lot of "road tax".

Period.

But you can lend a vehicle to someone else to drive.

[Albie]

So don't buy any bling tax disc holders. Saves me buying one classic crap one for the fizzer too. Wont need tax form 2015 anyhow.

[Dirty]

And in fact might be an idea to stick any blingy tax disc holders on eBay right away. They won't be worth squat this time next year!

[Black Bob]

But you can lend a vehicle to someone else to drive.

Presumably not at the same time they are driving theirs though, right?

One lot, see. ONE. Per person.

Anything else is a stitch up.

I dislike the way some forms of theft are disguised as tax, and we just suck it up.

[Dirty]

Presumably not at the same time they are driving theirs though, right?

One lot, see. ONE. Per person.

Anything else is a stitch up.

I dislike the way some forms of theft are disguised as tax, and we just suck it up.

Only if you presume they have their own vehicle, which would beg the question why are they borrowing yours! I'd tell them to sod off and use their own if I was you mate. Dam freeloaders!

To be honest I'm no friend of the tax man either but I think the 'fact' of road tax is one of the most benign. Pay once per year. Priced according to vehicle. You can do a million miles or one, up to you. In some ways it's a bargain especially bike tax. Have you taxed a car recently, that hurts!
What I don't like about it is it just goes into the tax pot rather than gets ring fenced for roads and transport.
A far worse tax is fuel tax which is % (vat) based so if fuel is more expensive the gov makes more money and the motorist is hit twice but Blames high fuel prices and forgets that in fact its the tax element that makes it so prohibitive. Add to that they announce they are not going to add the planned 1p rise but instead increase tax to fuel companies to make up the shortfall. Guess how they redress the balance! That's stealth tax in it's worst form.
And don't even get me started on VAT which we pay with our cash that has already been taxed at source.
No, vehicle duty is at least transparent and open. This is the price per vehicle per year.

[buzzbomb]

Whilst on my way back from WDW 2007 we stopped off for a night in St Moritz, I parked the van in an underground garage attached to the hotel and noted that there were a number of cars parked without number plates.
I asked the manager who informed me that if you had more than one vehicle you only needed one set of number plates which had a stamp on them confirming that you had tax and changed them onto which ever vehicle you were using.
Seems that some country's can get it right.

[Nickj]

The only draw back will be the huge increase in surveillance on the roads.

They aren't going to equip more plod cars with plate recognition, if anything cuts are going to see less over time, but put out more camera systems.

Of course these will not only check for status (tax, insurance, MOT), and track you over most of mainland UK but also allow average speed based prosecutions.

Think about it... how often do you actually run over the limit? A few miles at say 55, which you could get away with, throw in a few overtakes at 60 and you could be close to the threshold where an automated system spits out a gothcher notice.

[Dirty]

The only draw back will be the huge increase in surveillance on the roads.

They aren't going to equip more plod cars with plate recognition, if anything cuts are going to see less over time, but put out more camera systems.
.

Erm they already know pretty much everything! Cars are tracked all the time for traffic monitoring. They use ANPR to work out flow and jams etc. When that idiot tried to blow up Glasgow airport they had tracked his car route within hours and had photos of it all along the journey, especially at junctions.

Most plod cars have ANPR, it's pretty cheap.

Regarding overal enforcement though. It's not as easy as all that. Thankfully the law does protect as well as suppress us though of course laws can be changed. Tax dodging using current cameras would probably be pretty easy to enforce. I know people that regularly transport cars on trailers already know to cover the number plate. people hqve been given penalties for towed sorned cars before and they are actually quite difficult to get thrown out. Speed enforcement is very tricky though and not so easy or they would have extended it already.

[DrD]

Speed enforcement is very tricky though and not so easy or they would have extended it already.
Which is why the signs say Average Speed Cameras rather than Speed Enforcement. As long they are required to tell you what is in force, it might be boring for a while but, at least, you know the rules.

[LVC]

Road Tax .... what's that ????? ..... haven't paid anything like that in over 12 years ..... Vive la France :mand:

Did I mention that there's also no MOT for bikes and the car ones last for 2 years .... bonne nuit ;)

[popelli]

so what is everybody going to do with their bling factor tax disc holders

always thought double sided tape was a better idea - seems this time I was right

[Nickj]

Dirty it's not extended that much as there isn't uniform coverage over the UK, not yet but this is what will be seen as another good reason to extend.
As you noted they had tracked his car route within hours, that was pulling different systems together. Now if they had used the m-ways and major a's on the mainland (not sure about scotland) they could have been tracked in virtually real time, the stuffs in place and working already. Near real time is going to be what happens coupled to a much wider coverage, the concept of making good progress will be be reduced to attempting to keep under the trigger point.
We are already the most video surveilled population in the world, adding a few more just to watch cars that can be put in the catch all of for road safety is nothing. The generated revenue from average limits would more than pay for it.

It isn't a never, it's how soon.

[Dirty]

It's not impossible but legally it's not easy and will be resisted. Using traffic system based ANPR to check taxed vehicles is doable now, just takes a bit of cross referencing and bingo, postal fine. Proving a car is on the road is legally very simple. Proving what speed it did accurately is a minefield.