Computerised MOT

Bucket ( snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Quick glance by beat plod or traffic warden as they wander past a row of parked cars.

Well, if you would like to see abandoned old bangers and MOT failures discarded all over the place. People usually only report these after checking that the tax disc is well out of date. Do you think the police and traffic wardens spend all their time in back streets typing in the number plate of every car parked there? Ah, you say, they just look up the database for everyone that isn't taxed or SORNed and send them a demand or fine. Thing is most of these addresses are well out of date and they don't have the resources to track them all down, even if they did a lot are students, etc or people who didn't have the money to keep the car going anyway.

IMHO car tax is too low and petrol tax is too high if anything.

But if a central computer already knows which vehicles are lacking all the right documents, wouldn't it automatically send out a fine/letter/summons?

Bucket ( snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

You're making a big assumption there. That the DVLA have a working address for a keeper who gives a shit.

I'd very much like to see MOT and insurance stickers in the windscreen - as they do in France. But I'm also quite happy with VED being payable.

Taxing fuel would have a devastating effect on already struggling rural areas I would guess. Personally I think it would be pretty tax neutral but at least townies have the option of public transport.

Andy

Do you think people driving about with no insurance and/or tax actually register cars? Don't be daft ! The fine is a lot cheaper than the cost of tax and insurance, so it's a risk worth taking for some. This might shock you even more, but a lot of them don't have a driving licence either! So they can't have points added.

I doubt those already exempt from road tax will agree.

On the subject of computerised MOT's. I much prefer this system than the old one. For non major items the mot inspector can be more lenient and issue an advice note and still pass the mot. I was given an advice note for a slightly corroded brake pipe (which I have now fixed) but it's the first time in donkeys years that I have had a car pass first time.

Personally I wouldn't. I have a 25-mile each way drive to work. And I take advantage of being able to use my tax-exempt classics for this whenever possible!

Increase fuel tax and you increase the cost of _everything_ - don't forget most goods are delivered by road.

The people who don't pay road tax generally don't even bother to register their cars either, so the DVLA doesn't even know where they are. And if you try to report them nobody's interested. The adverts are a joke (especially the original one featuring Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which would be tax-exempt anyway...)

What if it was SORN'd and on the road illegally?

What if it was registered at a completely wrong address and was being used by someone without insurance?

more lenient ? the way the test is carried out has'nt changed & we've always issued advise notes, they were just written rather then printed as they are now.

I agree. The police can see at a glance that a car is tested and insured without having to stop the car, so when they do random checks they are able to check more cars without causing delays. I can't see why it's not widely adopted in other countries, I wouldn't think it would be very expensive to set up. The insurance papers are printed in one corner of the certificate which is being posted anyway and the CT ones are a standard sticker with punch holes for the month and year that the test expires.

-- Holly, in France Gite to let in Dordogne, now with pool.

Holly, in France ( snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

It's even dafter than that, because the MOT already includes a peel-off windscreen sticker with the expiry date/registration number/test centre printed on it... But they're on the INSIDE and you don't have to display it. It's purely a "reminder"...

I'd say we're only a few years away from traffic wardens having PDA gadgets with a camera and either local or direct access to the SORn/untaxed/MOT databases.

point it at the car, get a big red X, automatic call to the recovery truck....

Number plate recognition cameras are not that common at the moment, when they are the tax disc will become redundant. A big advantage with the computerised mot is that it forces the NT to check the vehicle's identity and records the mileage, clocking is on borrowed time and people taxing/insuring cars as a lower engine size is also about to end. I think within the next 2 years the road fund licence will be changed, and a new tax will be added to fuel.

I've always felt the opposite, well at least since I've been using this MOT station. I get advisories as appropriate, but it's unusual that my car _doesn't_ pass first time.

We'll see how it compares when the Prev goes in on Friday...

All a lot more expensive and just as time consuming as a quick look at the tax disc. You're assuming unlimited resources too, the recovery truck only comes round about once a month where I am, and only then if enough reports have been made.

Actually not. Many commercial PDAs have the requisite camera, and plenty of horsepower to do the sums - which are not complex for numberplates, especially if you can ask the operator to confirm that it's right.

It could very well be just a simple matter of programming. Add a much higher volume of buisness, and the truck costs would drop. Allowing it to be self financing, including buying the PDAs at maybe 400 quid per warden, for a ruggedised PDA with mobile comms, camera, and GPS.

So a least £400 per PDA per warden + development, infrastructure, comms, server side, training etc, etc, = £hundreds of thousands

Additional cost of glancing at a tax disk £0.

Actually yes.