Non-legit tax discs - detectable?

Probably also broke a law - and possibly some other things as well - "obtaining" the tax discs in the first place.

Which I would hope would be recorded at the dvla as "stolen"...

buy one, and you then get a criminal record for receiving - as well as screwing those who pay for their licenses legitimately.

from a practical point of view, the tax one waits on the MoT one, so this is an interesting viewpoint.

In terms of realism, insurance is necessary for vehicles driven on the road, because there is always a danger that you cause damage / injury. Any vehicle being driven on the road must be covered by insurance - but insurance exists on vehicles that are insured via "any vehicle" insurance.

So finding a car on the road, does not mean there is an insurance record for that vehicle - it is linked to driver, not vehicle, although sometimes it is linked to a driver and a vehicle.

So you can't send out fines by post based on the vehicle being on the road with no explicit insurance for that vehicle - the cover can be carried by the driver instead.

Tax is also unclear, a car can be legally driven on the road with no MoT or Tax, although it must be under the driver's insurance.

The specific link is MoT testing stations. A car that is on the road with no tax, or with no MoT, and which has not got a test booked via the MoT computerised system is fair game for a fine by post.

To be realistic, if a vehicle is spotted by cameras then the driver is at risk of being investigated, but the "fine by post" instant response has to wait on the MoT system being fully computerised, until then you may be driving the car on "any vehicle" mechanic's insurance to a pre-arranged MoT test, which currently you do prior to being able to have an MoT and with that being able to buy tax.

I expect there are several MOT mechanics who know vehicles inside out but need some persuading to start using computers. It's not easy to force people to change the way they do something after decades of the current system.

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No, but if carrying out the practice omitting a vital process became illegal (i.e. you couldn't be a MOT-able garage without database access, and had to register a vehicle's certificate online) then they'd not have too many legs to stand on.

If you want a rigid process without loopholes then it has to be rigid from point of sale.

True, and this is why any policyholder that has a vehicle on cover for >14 days must legally declare it with their insurer, and between them notify it to a insurance database that PNC accesses.

Of course, there are always some given constraints on any system. However, the current Govt-instigated review into the overall system may spell changes for that soon anyway.

They already use a computer for emissions testing, and the print out I got suggests they enter at least some of the vehicle details.

if this is the same one I saw a while ago they said they were stopping one in 10 cars that the computer came up with, but if they started to stop everyone they wouldn't have enough officers or hours in the day to get everything done so they didn't

I know it would be nice if they reintroduced the rolling age even at 30 years old. Classic car clubs have been campaigning for the last 5 years to get it re introduced. (Doesn't bother me with 2 '72s and 2 '69s as it helps keep there value higher) Though we do have a '74 in the family purchased just before the 25 year rule was changed.

The message from " dojj" contains these words:

And fill up with red diesel, too.

We hired a bus for a week to BAA once and often wondered what would have happened if Customs and Excise had stopped it a week after we got it back and found traces of red diesel in the tank.

I thought that so asked my MOT man. He said he was looking forward to having the computer system as he didn't like writing in the certificates.

cheers, clive