Four in 10 bikers dodge road tax
Car being crushed in road tax crackdown.
Hundreds of vehicles were crushed in a road tax crackdown in Scotland
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency risks becoming “a complete laughing stock” after it emerged nearly 40% of motorbikes were untaxed, MPs have said.
I personally wouldn’t bother trying to dodge it, because i use the road & it isn’t that much. That and I don’t think it’s worth the hassle if stopped.
Load of tosh those stats. SORN, APNR and police checks would not let such a high figure get by. Propaganda massaging of figures to get bikes chipped…!
And I agree, untaxed vehicles regardless of nature should be crushed or sold for spare parts to fund the Police. This would be a better use of the vehicles and would turn a nice profit and be “green”.
I’d like to see how this 40% is made up.Why should motorcyclists be less inclined to tax their vehicles than anyone else?
Perhaps that’s due to the fact that thousands of bikers only tax their bikes over the summer period as that’s when they’re used? And loads of bikers have bike ‘collections’, restorations, wrecks, etc scattered around which never actually get on to the road.
I can only assume it’s including those bikes that are already SORN.
Out of all the guys I know with bikes, I don’t know of any of them who don’t tax their bikes. It’s not worth the hassle for what it costs.
Like has been said the figures won’t take into account people with track bikes which aren’t taxed, then there’s the off road bikes and the projects that are sat in peoples garages. A prime example is a mate of mine who used to have three bikes. All three were road bikes, but one was used for trackdays, one was like an ornament that never left the garage and the other one was used for commuting when he didn’t have the works van to take home!
It seems to be another case of playing with the figures so they show what you want them to!
I would agree that this sounds high, how did they come up with this figure if :-
The MPs found that enforcement of road tax on motorbikes was difficult because roadside cameras had been unable to read their number plates from the rear
is this a guess
also how/why would we try to avoid congestion charge when we dont have to pay!
Purhaps before they try and put down the motorcycles they should start clamping down on EU registered cars that have been here over 6 months.
People bring there scooters to us for a service but don’t tell us they don’t have tax on them, we park em in bike bays when we are finished as we don’t have the space for em in the workshop, at least one scooter a week gets taken from a bike bay near our shop that doesn’t have any tax. The customers then have to pay a minimum of £200 to get it back. Then they have the cheek to say its our fault.
I am sending this after reading an article on the BBC site.
A couple of points I’d like clarifying, though I realise you didn’t
actually write the article.
I have numbered these and would like the questions answered, and not
answered selectively. I have also included quotes of comments made by
you from the article. (Quotes are indicated)
Quote:
Motorcyclists are particularly liable to evade road tax. Nearly 40% of
motorcycles are now unlicensed.
40% seems high, how was this figure reached?
Does the 40% take into consideration;
i) Track bikes that are never used on the road
ii) Bikes in the process of being restored
Is the figure of 4 in 10 just the percentage of SORN bikes?
(If it is I think that’s the most ridiculous suggestion that any person
declaring a bike SORN is a liar)
Quote
They must also “strongly consider more severe measures such as
impounding unlicensed motorcycles”, he said, adding: “Large parts of the
biking community are cocking a snook at the law.”
I don’t have a problem with any unlicensed vehicle being impounded if it
is on use on the roads when it is falsely declared SORN.
I do however resent the implication that, “Large parts of the biking
community are cocking a snook at the law.”
Most of the bikers I know or have met have no problem with the law, ride
sensibly and courteously, there are of course the odd few that have
little or no regard for the law, but they are a minority and not a,
“Large part” as you suggest.
Although it is not a quote of you,
The report found that motorists who refused to tax a vehicle and
register as its keeper were often trying to avoid congestion charges and
conceal criminal activity.
I’d like to know where congestion charging applies to motorbikes
(As far as I was aware it did not currently apply to motorbikes)
Is this a suggestion that it is to be brought into effect?
What exactly are you implying by, “Criminal activity”?
I am offended that as a motorcyclist you are suggesting I am a criminal.
(As I am sure you would equally be offended if I were to suggest that a
large portion of politicians self serving liars.)
Thank you for your email to [email protected]. Please read the
following instructions to ensure your email is dealt with correctly.
Well I got a response:
Only CONSTITUENTS who give a full postal address will be replied to. If
you have not enclosed your full postal address in your email, please
resend it with this information.
For matters relating to the PUBLIC ACCOUNTS’ COMMITTEE and/or the
NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE, please resend your email to: [email protected]
Thank you for your cooperation.
Edward Leigh MP
As I am not a constituent of where he is I won’t be getting a reply it seems.
He is chair of the Public Accounts Committee so write to him there - the address is given. Most MPS will not deal with political correspondence unless it is from constituents unless they are doing so in some other capacity such as a Minister, chairman of committee etc.
As for the numbers - there must be literally thousands of bikes that just sit in people’s gardens neither taxed no SORNed. The same happens with cars in garages but must be much less common. I suspect it is an estimate of bikes that “disappear” like this that gets the numbers up to 40%.
I have a few motorbikes most are off the road and before the sorn applied…they are shown as not taxed.
I just receieved an 80 pounds fine for not renewing a sorn for a bike that was already off the road, I was late by 2 months…what why and justify that …
I received an 80 pounds fine for not SORN’ing my Stalwart an historic vehicle free of tax. again what where why and justify…
The paperwork has become more important than common sense.
Its all about keeping the civil service funded not road taxation
Road tax has nothing to do with the roads
Vehicles are taxed enough via the fuel…70% of your fuel cost is tax…
We should all be crying for the tax to be removed noit peoples property…
Anyone that cries for someones property of many thousands value to be destroyed is stark staring mad…and all for a tax that is a few pounds, it is totally obscene. The DVLA have powers that are in breech of our human rights and its nuts.
If you agree with the wanton destruction of valuable property there is seriously something wrong with you as there is with this government and the DVLA.
11 The DVLA are liars and are hiding the truth, a survey was done by the DVLA (rela time by stopping vehicles) and they found I think 20% or thereabouts of vehicles including bikes untaxed…not 40%…this was challenged by MCN but as always the DVLA ignored their own report and still used the 40% figure…They do what they want because they have draconian powers. and as i say anyone that agrees with them is nuts.
I have discovered the methodology - DVLA paid some people to stansd by the road collecting numbers. They then ran them through their computer, and got a figure of 16% - which is plausable. They then decided that this couldn’t be a realistc figure because it is obvious that untaxed vehicles will be ridden less often! They then decided to multiply up the 16% by a figure they invented to represent the “not riding it because it is untaxed” factor and got 38%. In otherwords the number being used by DVLA and the media is a complete fiction with no basis!
You can of course do this yourself as the Direct.gov.uk website allows you to check the tax and sorn status of any vehicle if you know the number and make. You can then multiply this figure by whatever you like!
Whoa! This is getting scary. They’re just making this stuff up. It sounds like the politicians/DVLA are wilfully manipulating statistics. We all like to bend facts a little to suit our own argument, but this figure of 40% is way beyond that.
I have NEVER seen, or met a rider on, an untaxed motorbike (so I’m just agreeing with what you’ve already written).
Are there really that many ‘project’ bikes that are off the road in garages?
well I have 8 off the road all in a state of rebuild…and non sorned as they went off road prior to the sorn applying…I am not trying to avoid taxing my bike or trying to steal anything or trying to have my property destroyed…
ooh I think I am going to send myself to Hyde Park corner and have a rant…do they still do that…
