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Did you know that as of 1^st October 2014 tax discs exist no more? It would seem that half the drivers in the UK are unaware of this fact so let me explain what is happening. But before you get excited it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to tax your car it simply means that you don’t have to display a disc which is expected to save the DVLA £10 million each year in this move to go paperless.

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It also means that as of the 1^st October, if you already have a disc, you can take it out of your windscreen, all part of the announcement made by the Government in the Autumn statement. In addition to no longer being required to display a tax disc there is another move over which car traders and dealers may not be so happy.

Cars used to be sold or part exchanged with a bit of tax left on it either giving the buyer some refund to trouser or giving the seller something to negotiate with when selling her pride and joy. In future, as soon as the DVLA are notified that a car has been sold a refund for the balance of unused tax will be sent to the previous owner. As before refunds will only be issued for complete months that are unused whilst the new owner must apply immediately for the tax using the relevant portion of the V5C.

Another, somewhat strange change, given the way that road tax has been coming down as CO2 emissions continue to reduce, is the ability to pay monthly. Paying monthly will increase the annual cost of the licence by 5% but drivers will be able to pay by direct debit to avoid forgetting and receiving a fine. In what I thought was a funny twist, paper tax discs are still being sent out till the end of September but the DVLA ran out of perforated paper so drivers are having to cut them out themselves.

I can just imagine the dog’s dinner that some have ended up with after attacking the disc with a pair of nail scissors or garden shears! So to sum up: You can still pay for your disc at a Post Office, online or monthly and you’ll still get a reminder. You can no longer transfer the tax, it is automatically refunded when the car is sold or scrapped and the DVLA advised. You will be able to check the tax status of any car by going online and typing https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax then typing in the car registration and make.

In future you won’t see traffic wardens peering through car windows unless they are being nosey or are perverts. In future tax checks will be carried out by police with plate recognition cameras, wardens will have access to the DVLA database and static plate ID cameras will crop up and will enable the authorities to raise instant fines to those drivers whose cars are captured without tax or insurance.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And don’t forget that you need to do nothing other than remove your tax disc on the 1^st October and maybe keep hold of to hand down to your grandchildren for posterity. By Graham Hill

Related articles

• DVLA about to ‘run out’ of tax disc paper (telegraph.co.uk)

I listened very carefully as the debate over smoking in cars with children onboard rolled on. As someone whose father smoked like a chimney in his car whilst my brother, sister and I breathed in the disgusting smoke, when we were very young, I know how uncomfortable it can be.

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It was bad enough in the house but in the confined space of a Morris 8 it was very uncomfortable and very selfish although I accept that at the time he didn’t know the potential harm he was doing. Fast forward to the 21^st century and the fact that cigarette packs tell you that smoking kills I find it hard to come up with an argument for not banning smoking in cars that are carrying children.

It is already illegal for drivers of company vehicles to smoke in their cars, vans and trucks so I couldn’t understand the ‘impossible to police’ argument as there are already legally enforceable laws banning smoking. If laws were only introduced if they were easy to enforce we would have very few laws on the statute book so like most people I agree with the ban and that we shouldn’t simply rely upon the responsibility of parents.

Lets face it if parents were responsible we wouldn’t be considering the new law in the first place to protect children, it would be unnecessary. It is illegal to batter kids even in the parent’s own home but virtually impossible to enforce, unless a child is taken to hospital and the police alerted so the ‘unenforceable’ argument doesn’t wash as a reason not to pass the law.

If parents light up in the car their babies and children can’t simply scramble out of their childseat or babyseat, climb out of the car and continue their journey on foot (or crawling) to avoid the smoke that they don’t know is harming them in the first place. So it now looks like the law will have grudging approval but how serious are those that say they are in favour?

On the 4^th October last year, in an old blog posting, I revealed that a Canadian company had developed an App that allowed anyone with a smartphone to photograph cars that are illegally parked which would be date and time stamped, located by GPS and with the use of plate recognition, the driver of the car identified.

This information would be forwarded to the local authority for a ticket to be issued, using the information captured by the app to convict the miscreant. Once convicted the person providing the information will receive part of the fine imposed. This apparently works in Canada whilst in the US there is a similar app used to convict anyone parking in a disabled parking space.

But could and should it be extended to cover other crimes such as driving without a seatbelt fastened, using a mobile phone or smoking in a car with children onboard? I’m sure that there are passionate people out there that would provide the evidence through a purpose created app for no fee. So if enforcement is the problem is this the direction we should be moving in? I would welcome your thoughts – without the expletives! By Graham Hill

Related articles

• Ban smoking in cars carrying children: Labour forces vote on new law to fine offenders £60 (dailymail.co.uk)