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The British Motorcyclists Federation has today welcomed news that the Government has admitted to errors that resulted in inflating estimates of Vehicle Excise Duty evasion in figures that singled out motorcyclists as major culprits.

The Department now admits that ‘misread registration marks tend to inflate estimates of evasion and that ‘detailed checking (of the 2007 survey) has removed this inflationary effect from the 2007 estimates.’ The latest figures now show evasion rates for motorcycles at 6.5%, a massive reduction on the much-publicised 38% contained in the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee report published in January.

DFT FAX

13/02 2008 11:14 FAX 02072933613 LEGAL ®002

"Ben Coleman" To <paul.mottram@mirror,co.ulc* -<Ben.Coleman@dn.gs ^ "Gerry Sreenan" <Gerry.Sreenan@dft.gsi.gov.uk>, i.gov.uk> ,,paui Syron« <paul.Syron@dft.g5i.gov.uk> 12.02.200815:23 bcc

Subject Re: legal question

Paul,

I'm not totally sure 1 understand your question but hopefully the additional information below helps,

As described in our publication, 'evasion in stock' estimates the number of unlicensed vehicles mat are being used on the road. In 2006, we estimated there to be 698 thousand unlicensed motorcycles being used on the road - this equates to 38% of all motorcycles in use.

This number is then used to estimate the amount of revenue that could be lost through non-payment of vehicle excise duty - although, as mentioned in my previous email, some of this revenue may be recouped through enforcement or late-licensing activity. In 2006, our estimate of the revenue lost through motorcycle evasion amounted to £28m.

I hope this helps answer your question. However, please feel free to contact me if you would like any further information.

Regards, Ben

0207 944 6142

>»<paul.mottrani@inirror.co.uk> 12/02/2008 11:00:29 >»

thank you. Does this mean that evasion in stock could include motorcycles that are on the road, over and above the figure stated in the sample?

regards Paul

"Gerry Sreenan"

<Gerry.Sreenan@dft.gsi.gov.uk> to <paul.mottram@mirror.co.uk>

cc "Ben Coleman" <Ben.Coleman@dft.gsi.gcv.uk>, "Paul

MPs apologise for motorbike error

Motorcyclists pay up to £64 a year in vehicle excise duty
The influential Commons Public Accounts Committee of MPs has apologised to motorcyclists after wrongly suggesting 40% of motorbikes were untaxed.
Committee chairman Edward Leigh blamed the error in last month's report on the Department of Transport, saying it now estimated the figure at 9.8%.

At the time he accused motorcyclists of "cocking a snook at the law".

Motorcyclists' groups said transport chiefs should be "embarrassed" - and said the estimate was still too high.

The committee's report found that enforcement of road tax on motorbikes was difficult because roadside cameras had been unable to read their number plates from the rear.

Impounding

It was also hard for the police to detain motorcyclists as they could easily turn round and drive off, the report said.

At the time, Mr Leigh recommended "more severe measures such as impounding unlicensed motorcycles", adding: "Large parts of the biking community are cocking a snook at the law."

This provoked outrage among motorcyclists.

The DfT should be embarrassed and should apologise to the vast majority of powered two-wheeler riders who clearly do pay VED

David Taylor
Motor Cycle Industry Association

Following the realisation that the figures upon which the report was based were wrong Mr Leigh said: "I apologise to motorcyclists and wish to offer an explanation."

He said motorcycle users had been "concerned" over the findings of the report "which were based on national statistics provided by the Department for Transport".

Mr Leigh added: "The department did not, however, give us all of the information we needed.

"It did not make the committee aware at our hearing last year that a new, more accurate methodology was already being used to produce estimates of rates of road tax evasion for the year 2007-08, nor that it could have implications for the accuracy of the previous year's estimates upon which the committee had to rely."

David Taylor, chief executive of the Motor Cycle Industry Association said "The motorcycle industry has said for years that the methods of calculating VED evasion were deeply flawed, but we have been consistently ignored. In fact, we still say that the methodology is wrong."

He added: "The DfT should be embarrassed and should apologise to the vast majority of powered two-wheeler riders who clearly do pay VED."

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: "It was only known that the 2007 estimates would not be comparable to earlier estimates after detailed analysis of video recordings showed that misread registration marks tend to push up evasion estimates.