Foreign cars dodging road tax

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I don't know about you but I am growing sick of the number of foreign registered vehicles on UK roads. I teach English as a Foreign Language and many of my students have told me that they have Polish, German, Latvian registered registrations because it is cheaper to pay road tax there.

Seven years ago I moved to Germany where I stayed for four years. You may or may not have noticed that German number plates have two discs in the middle after the letters which indicate their town. The police can scan these discs with a gun and find out instantly whether the car is taxed, MOT'd and insured. Needless to say foreign vehicles are routinely stopped and notices are always served to re-register the car. Obviously as a law-abiding citizen I did this as it was German roads I was using and not British ones, so it was only right that I contributed money to their upkeep.

However the Germans' tougher, meaner neighbour Austria have a completely dodge-free system and we, as good Europeans should borrow it from them. Upon arrival in Austria all foreign vehicle must purchase a Vignette which is a temporary road tax sticker. Up to 100km away from the border in Germany there are places to buy this dotted along the motorways and you can buy it on the border itself too. It costs about 15 EUR for 10 days and is used so that private and commercial vehicles contribute to the roads that they are using - which is especially wise as most foreign vehicles in Austria are not-resident, they're simply passing through on the long drive between Istanbula and Paris or London.

There are very clear picture instructions telling you specifically where to place it on the windscreen so that police cameras can pick it up. If it is wrongly displayed you have to pay a hefty fine and if your car doesn't have one, the police can and will impound your car. They don't mess about in Austria! You either do it their organised and efficient way or you pay the consequences. There are no grey areas.

One day after feeling personally aggrieved with a UK-Road tax dodger I went to police and asked what could be done about it as I knew that the car in question had been in this country for over two years. I was told that foreign vehicles may remain foreign registered for up to six months legally. I naturally explained that this car had exceeded this limit and then some. The police officer said that it must be an uninterrupted six months - yes you guessed it! That means if they take the car on a day trip to Calais or Dublin and then bring it back the whole thing starts again. This is completely outrageous and sadly completely British - disorganised, vague and wishy-washy.

The police officer also told me that it wasn't a police matter unless the vehicle in question was breaking a law. She advised me to tell a traffic warden but the problem with this is that in Kirkcaldy where I live, traffic wardens only patrol the town centre and only work between Monday - Friday 9am till 5pm. Incredible on the downside it means that any Polish person that works in a factory with a car park and lives outside the town centre can get away completely Scot-free. On the plus side though, it means now that I can utterly ignore all maximum 20 minute parking signs after 5pm and all day on Saturday and Sunday! If you can't beat them, join them I say!

By: Jimmy Beaver

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Once again we see the British government happy to help all those immigrants that come in to our country and allow them to fleece it any way they can. On the other hand, the Brit who was born and bred here and has been here 30, 40, 50 years or more are the real victims in this country. They are the ones who are hounded for unpaid bills, taxes,rent, parking fines etc. The quicker there is a revolution the better.

MERCENARY 10-Nov-2008 08:54

I agree about the Polish, they are hard working and decent people, and I will be sorry to see them go. I cannot say the same for many African migrants and asylum seekers, especially the Somali's, they really are the pits.

Twattymulldoonican 19-Oct-2008 09:44

Don't think the DVLA will help out. They are another bunch of clowns that don't have a clue.

I applied for my SORN on line, was informed that it will take 6-8 weeks to arrive. That was 9 months ago. I managed to get in touch with them and you'll never guess what, no record of it. Yet, I have their reply.

They fire across these adverts on TV about threatening to crush your car. They are that stupid these people, they'd end up crushing their own car.

DVLA - Space Cadet Academy more like.

Robbie Box 26-Sep-2008 10:57

Bonjour Asterix,
Unfortunately your analysis of the UK is spot on.
We have inept politicians because we vote them in and then do nothing about their woeful performance once in power - apathy rules. Dross Labour is a bad joke.
Many Britsh people, including myself, admire the French - while I do always agree with your actions, you do stand up for yourselves.

Deliverance 26-Sep-2008 10:41

What can I say !!!!!
I`m not polish but french.
And you are right...

We do not bother about fine , camera , and mot , road tax ....

But this is only because of the british way of governemt.

But I think before you come to this .. You should look at what happen in this country... All the criminal who kill or rape or whatever they do that can be really bad , they get almost nothing..

Look on your news..

Terrorist who planned to kill hundred of people (they said they were joking) they got what ? ....a few years in goele. its just laughtable. And certainly in a few month they will be out ....
Look at your young people (no education)
Look at all your system (nhs,tax,emigration, blablabla... They are on the rupture point...

You cant cop with it .. Your country is going down , and no-one is saying anything... And it make me sad because as a french I love england better than france.
but for god sake

You have to move your bottom and tell everybody to !!!!!!!(you know what I mean...). As well to get really strict with law and not be compliant with people... Look at the arabe way.. You steal ( you get a hand cut off)

That is the proper way....

And your complaining about the car !!!!! hahahaha

This is one of the last thing who is not good in this country

Asterix 21-Sep-2008 01:52

Agree with the author. It's is not about singling out any particular group and I don't think that's the tenor of his argument. The article simply highlights yet another case of people being in a position to exploit loopholes in an inadequate British system which - through incompetence, laziness or both - does little to address known gaps.

D.R. Schkopf 03-Sep-2008 11:43

Why don't we all buy Polish registered cars (much cheaper than ours but just as good) and drive them over here paying tax to Poland (or whichever country you bout it from so to not pick on Polish people...) and then go for a day trip to France twice a year (so you can re-start the 6 month rule) then either we will all have cheaper car tax or the government will have to step in (yeah right).

Sorry but I believe we are taxed far to much for fuel and car tax to mention just two and we never see any investment in the roads...where does it all go?? MP's back pockets and thats where it stays.

wilba 02-Sep-2008 17:52

Actually I don't think the original poster was really singling out Polish people, it was just used as an example. It may have come across that way in the last paragraph but I don't think that is what was meant. The gripe was about foreigjn registered vehicles, be it owned by British people (to dodge said road tax) or by foreigners who are just over here working.

Matty 01-Sep-2008 10:16

The original poster is absolutely right in his observations, but very much in the wrong in singling out Polish people for his criticism.

The Polish are one of the few immigrant groups in UK who work hard and contribute to society, the majority are decent respectable people. Of course there are exceptions but look at some of the other immigrant groups who are predominantly involved in crime and fraud before you pick on the Poles, please.

MikeP (aka Stanislaw Brodowski) 01-Sep-2008 10:06

another thing, where I live in Sheffield there are people (That are English) with tax discs out of date.. does that no count?

Sentill 01-Sep-2008 09:48

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Foreign cars dodging road tax

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