Safe Speed Forums

I think it was christmas eve last year when someone from the DVLA came on 5Live and said they we coming to get all untaxed drivers and there was nowhere to hide and they don't make mistakes etc. Well how many people have been convicted? Have convictions gone up? Are less untaxed vehicles on the road?

The reason I ask is we have some casuals helping us at work and they are driving round in one of a selection of £100 heaps of untaxed scrap. If they are in an accident it is the likes of us that pays for them, because they clearly have no money.

It makes me very cross how they can get away with that, when if I stray over an arbitary speed limit in my meticulessly maintained car with all it's paper work the law shows no mercy and yet these muppets get away with driving illegally. Grrr

Shop 'em on 08000 325 222

Forgive me for being cynical, oscar, but if the vehicles have not been registered in the name of the current owner what, exactly, will reporting them do?

Will a squad of cops wait for them to drive off one evening and catch the lot of them?

I'd like to think so, but don't hold out much hope, TBH.

I'd like to think so, but don't hold out much hope, TBH.[quote]

Neither do I, but if you don't you'll never know........

You can try that phone number, once you've reported it nip out and buy
some protection from aerial pig droppings (in case any thing gets done quickly).

I and a neighbour reported an untaxed (and un anything else) car for 3 weeks.(NO VISIBLE TAX DISK/WINDSCREEN CRACKED BADLY - DANGEROUS BODY)
He has had police visit him with promises of action.
I asked for the help of our county councillor(who is on the police committee) - finally he got action and replied BUT "DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH"- problem was car had been sold.
In meantime I sent e mail to local mp asking about delay and quoting time periods - got letter stating senior officer etc -might as well have been "Senoir officer" (from Some remote part of spain) for all the differance it made.-I AM STILL WAITING.HE IS STILL RUNNING AROUND

If you report them then keep a record of the time, date and person you spoke to. If the vehicle is later involved in an incident then you can "go public" and your conscience is at least cleared.

A friend of mine reported a nut with firearms after he saw "himself" on the TV after Dunblane. His opposite number said "I knew Hamilton was a nut but I never reported him. Now I've got to live with that forever"

We had a muppet park his untaxed wreck outside our house in the summer. The car was clearly not roadworthy so doubtful of any MOT. No tax disc displayed. We phoned the and reported it. Nothing happened. Then we phoned and reported it again, and again..........finally a yellow sticker was placed on the car saying the owner had 48 hours to tax or scrap to car. 3 weeks later, the car was still there. In the end, some of the local joyriders nicked it and set fire to it elsewhere on the estate. Now, if the owner had been caught doing 35 in a 30............................................!!!!!!!!!

_________________
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

How much did you pay them?

is'nt that what we're all shouting about - TOO MUCH SNAP EM AND BAG THE CASH - AND NOT ENOUGH REAL LIVE POLICE OUT THERE and if the vehicle is registered to nobody - what happens - I know the DVLA have got this policy of continuous registration(least thats wat they call it) BUT DOES IT WORK EXCEPT ON THE LAW ABIDING DRIVER -who does 35 etc.

The contents of this thread should be published and distributed as a leaflet to everyone in the country, along with a copy of the newspaper reports regarding the new stealth-tax that Parliament passed this week - allowing top-ups on fixed penalties from motorists to be added into the 'victim support' budget.

Is the message getting across yet that this isn't about crime and punishment, but instead about taking advantage of good, honest people??

The latest joke is the replacement of convictions for shoplifting with fixed penalties. This government is removing its responsibility to deal with real crime in the name of expediency, and at the same time making serious crime more lucrative for those with the nerve to commit it, while the rest of us cover the cost.

Driving around like a loonatic in a fancy car is bound to get the attention and ire of the police.

Drive along slowly in your old land rover, and they will never look at you twice. That is because you are doing nothing to harm anyone and it is their job to stop harm coming to people. If you are doing 90 in a 50 then you are harm coming to someone.

All this talk of shopping people, really gives a measure of the people posting here, remember what goes around comes around.

Some interesting comments and many I agree with. However, this forum seems to have to bring everything back to speed cameras bad that's why we have shoplifters, joyriders. Saddam Hussain and George Bush etc....

Yes people with untaxed, unroadworthy, uninsured or unroadworthy vehicles should be shopped before they do harm to others. The police should respond and take this menace seriously. Doing nothing is sending out all the wrong messages.

That was the point of mY earlier one - the dvla add says "WE KNOW WHERE TO LOOK" So if they do ,why arent they, and then sending the police/WHEELCLAMPER round to check if the driver lives there? .
Seems to be the honest driver who errs slightly by exceeding the speed limit who gets convicted.
Answers simple - let's get the traffic police back on the street to educate the bloke who was driving a bit too fast but safely and hit the banger merchants.
Don't forget who pays for the repairs if one of these hits you .

Similar problem here. Surely laws could be passed that allow the police to confiscate any car being driven unregistered where the registration is out of date by a grace period, say 28 days, and either sell them and put the proceeds back into the police coffers or scrap them and make a point.

If enough people had their cars confiscated the message would filter through.

Over here we have "hoon" laws that allow the police to confiscate a vehicle being used in a "hoonish" manner, such as illegal street drags, burnouts etc. I am not sure how effective it is but I'm sure it has to put some fear into the hoons who use the public roads as a racetrack. I believe the police have discretionary powers to warn drivers as well but once they are a repeat offender the gloves come off...

Spoken by a genuine, tyre smoking hoon (on the track/skid pan!!!!).

_________________
Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!

Personally I find the idea of seizure without a prior court hearing pretty seriously worrying. I thought it was a basic human right to be innocent until proven guilty. I can't see any basis for applying a legal penalty before a trial.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

The police can impound your car and you have a right to apply to the courts to have it returned, AND the police are only likely to take your car if you are really acting dangerously AND have done so before.

We see videos of "hoons" doing donuts with people all around them. One slip and they're into the crowd. I say take their damn cars, they are a danger to everyone and they deserve what they get.

This may seem unfair but everyone in Victoria and West Australia (possibly other states) knows that if they do that sort of stunt they will lose their car. Obviously this would become a problem if it was not their car, but I would assume the police, and if not the courts, would return a vehicle in those circumstances.

I should note that there have been no reports on TV or in the newspapers that I have seen that show any abuse of these laws...

_________________
Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!

Don't the police have those powers already and use them to clamp down on nuiscance motorbikes - the ones tearing around playing fields etc. As far as i gather they get one warning then bang.
Obviously if a car has not been taxed for about a month, and HAS NOMOT, ANd/OR insurance it is pretty obvious that the owner has no intention of complying with the law. I agree that confiscation/destruction makes the owner guilty until proven innocent - bu t what about impounding the vehicle untill a trial -might make some of the idiots stop and think!
But basically what we need are more traffic cops to enforce the law

I would have thought that it's easy to find out if a car is insured or taxed. All the information is on a computer somewhere! You cannot tax a car without insurance can you!

I think the problem is that there are so many that the system cannot cope....that's their problem not ours

I thought that the SORN was going to sort that one out..

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

This is what the government keeps saying. But the law does not require cars to be insured. The law requires drivers to be insured.

I have absolutely no idea how it's ever going to work. No, let me put that another way. It's never going to work.



That's a different matter, but then how much Police time should we allocate to collecting 165 quid? A couple of hours tops. I bet they can't process one in a couple of hours.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Mrs M put it in a nutshell earlier - what can anyone (DVLA/POLICE )do if vehicle is not registered - SORN i s no use - thought that was wat the big campaign last year was all about - 1 white van with APNR and 4 traffic cars +umteen motorbikes.(AT LEAST IN PARTS OF WARKS) - and at the start of it all whilst the Blokes in Volvos were chasing lost road tax revenue in Warks - a tank transporter wipes out a few lives - reportedly by having to swerve to miss MR PRAT.
According to sources the computers on board white van held tax/insurance/mot details.

Lets put the road tax on fuel - that way the DVLA GETS ITS MONEY and find another way to enforce mot/insurance -say by making having insurance part of the mot -i.e. no insurance -no mot - simple?