tax disc dilemma

As long as your en-route to pick up tax you'll be fine. If you get pulled explain the situation and invite them to follow you to the nearest post office.

Do it ASAP to avoid being snapped by a travello (sp?) or whichever camera it is checks for tax, even then you should be able to contest the fine.

Mason

If your MOT and Insurance is valid, can you pay for tax online and get the missus to post it out to you, or meet you at the docks?

In news:42416415$0$65081$ snipped-for-privacy@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net, Mason decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

"Ah, hello ocifer.. Um, is Budapest Post Office open today?"

Don't worry about it.

I was driving a Range Rover in Europe in 2003 that hadn't seen the UK since around 1991, yet was still UK registered.

Needless to say, the MOT & Tax were somewhat past their expiry date.

Plod weren't interested in the least, not even the Swiss plod. If they did ask, all I would say was "Car has been in storage for a while, taking it back to the UK now" and they'd let me go. Even if I was driving /away/ from the UK.

I was refering to the force here when he gets back into the country.

In news:424166de$0$65054$ snipped-for-privacy@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net, Mason decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Aye.. I was thinking he'd be more worried about the Hungarian plod than our useless ones.

good point, if you're other half has the reminder thingy can't they just pop out and get it and post it to you?

Isn't it more of a risk loosing it in the post than simply getting it on his return? Or wil her buying the tax come up if he gets stopped/flashed?

I realise if he get caught on camera then he can contest and proove the disc was purchased prior to the date of the fine....but if he gets pulled?

Mason

Mason wrote

I remember reading on the back of tax disc "=A3100 fine for failure to display"

I might get away with it, I managed to for 2 weeks once thanks to forgetting to tax the car until my mum pointed out my expired disc to me when I went to visit her! If you're a bad boy, your mum is always going to know first, weird that!

Yeah, but these days they have the instant "Do not pass go" =A380 fine=20 don't they? I've never let a tax disc lapse, so I don't know if they actually do it,=20 or that is just scaremongering.

--=20 "Sorry Sir, the meatballs are Orf" The poster formerly known as Skodapilot.

Yeah, but these days they have the instant "Do not pass go" £80 fine don't they? I've never let a tax disc lapse, so I don't know if they actually do it, or that is just scaremongering.

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you get 14 days to get a new one after the expire date i thought?

The reality is, if you've let the disc lapse by a full month, then you get the automatic fine. In theory, this means that you get about 28 days' grace perhaps, so long as you don't get camera'd or pulled over. You could buy a tax disc on 28 March and pay for the preceding 28 days like that.

I've just remembered, before this new system a mate of mine when I was at uni went for about 2 months without renewing his tax and when he eventually got round to it it was very hard to get hold of what was effectively a 4 month tax disc as he was determined to pay for the two months of back tax! Wonder if he'd have slipped through the net and gotten away with it if he'd not opted to back tax...

When I was at uni loads of us used to skirt the law in various ways like this. I've become a whole lot more law abiding since then for some reason!

Got a reply from the DVLA:

I can confirm that as quoted in the Road Vehicles Registration and Licensing Regulations 2003, SORN declarations are only valid if the vehicle is used or kept in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.

You will need to licence your vehicle to comply with EC Directive

83/182 : "Vehicles which are circulating temporarily within or between Member States are allowed to be used on the public roads without the need to register or pay duties in the host country. These provisions limit visits to six months in a twelve month period and the vehicle must comply with the registration and licensing requirements of the home country."

By law a vehicle licence cannot be issued unless original documents are produced with the application.

So it's ignore it and tax it as soon as you arrive in the uk then?

The way I see it, I will not be doing wrong if I just leave everything as it is until I return to the UK and buy a tax disc as soon as I find a Post Office in Dover when I come off the ferry, which will be around the 15 April. As the tax disc will cover the whole of April and the following 11 months I will not be evading any tax nor do I or have any intention to. I will be very unlucky to get any hassle from the police or DVLA in the meantime and if I do, I have made a reasonable attempt to rectify a situation that is out of my own control.

Don't suppose any of the Ferries have a post office on them these days do they?