The DVLA have been.

What about all the law breaking cyclists though? 😀

I was amazed pre covid that on our 'respectable place' street had a couple of (expensive) clamped cars after a DVLA visit.

They came down mine just the other day, loads of clamped cars in tesco's car park.

Hope the local social media is in meltdown in outrage

Yep. A couple of cars including a Porsche 924/944 in a carpark I have some sympathy may actually be declared off the road but technically not quite off of the road (no driveways or off road parking.

A taxi! Still has licence etc and has been rotting on the street for at least 4 years.

And a big fancy newish Merc parked on the pavement.

Only the Merc is on my street obviously I'm not scum etc...

It would be interesting if they came out to the islands as a number of classes of vehicles are MoT exempt here as there are no testing facilities and as long as you don’t go to the mainland. Motorbikes and larger, hi-top vans for starters plus I expect many cars are driven untaxed and tested until they just grind to a halt and abandoned.

declared off the road but technically not quite off of the road (no driveways or off road parking

Off the road means off the road. You can't SORN a car and keep it parked in a public place.

It would be interesting if they came out to the islands

As I understood it, a couple of Islands have exemptions for vehicles as long as they are on the island. Jura springs to mind.

I may be wrong.

Jersey didn't use to have MOT* but you could get done for dangerous body work, cue lots of gaffer tape and spray paint...
* back in the 80's

Off the road means off the road. You can’t SORN a car and keep it parked in a public place.

No shit Sherlock. I said I had some sympathy with not that they weren't in the wrong! We aren't talking public carpark we're talking shared carpark in a 8 house block.

Hmmm..I'd have said that a private car park would not be classed as a public highway, so maybe the clampers got too enthusiastic?

acidchunks
Full Member

Off the road means off the road. You can’t SORN a car and keep it parked in a public place.

That's the rub though isn't it? People do think "off the road means off the road" but there are loads of places that are off the road, that you can't park a sorn'd car. It starts out fairly blatant, like in layby parking at the side of the road, or a public car park, but it gets thinner and thinner as you get out towards off street private parking that doesn't have a barrier, stuff like that.

Basically "off the road" doesn't mean "off the road" at all and it's no wonder people get caught out. And the paperwork you get with a SORN doesn't really go into it at all. By luck I have my slip here, and

"This vehicle must not be used or kept on a road while your sorn is in force. Failure to tax and insure or SORN your vehicle may result in a fine or prosecution.

Garages, driveways and private land may be considered to be off-road areas. Contact your local authority for more advice on off-road areas".

And no contact number, no enquiries service- just "contact your local authority", how lucky do you feel with that? The examples given don't cover everything, there's no mention of the most important general exceptions like public car parks, and it's so vague- even a garage "may be" off road...

Yes, vehicles are MoT exempt where there are no test facilities on the island and the vehicle remains on the island. Lots of farmer’s quads/buggies held together with gaffer tape and baling twine. The only time I see the police here is when they collect their Indian takeaway at the shift start on a Friday night 🤣

Isles of Scilly has no MOT. But cars are required to be in road worthy condition

Private carpark should be considered off the road, in fact even a fairly major public one would as well afaik. Plenty of track cars are sorn and are regularly parked in circuit carparks which are fairly public.

That's not to say the 944 hadn't been nabbed going through an anpr camera or just failed to declare sorn thou

The last place we live there was a local resident (at No 89 I think) who would check the tax disks on windscreens on a monthly basis. He sometimes got lucky but for the most part we were a pretty law-abiding street.

Many years ago I managed to go quite a few months untaxed- pure negligence on my part, not deliberate at all. My visit to the PO was mortifying. Well a bit mortifying. Oh the shame 🙁

That’s not to say the 944 hadn’t been nabbed going through an anpr camera or just failed to declare sorn thou

For sure. To be fair I think they'd have needed a couple of pals pushing to get it through an angle camera trap 😂

Yeh no MOT needed on the inhabited isles off Shetland (yell, unst, fetlar, Foula,skerries, whaslay, Papa and Fair Isle, bressay) as long as the car stays there. Can drive on a just a provisional too! I sold a couple of my old bangers on as 'isles cars'. Pretty sure plenty weren't taxed or insured either oddly enough.

I had a fencing contractor who only worked and drove on the north isles as he didn't have a full driving license. If he went to town (lerwick) he took his motorbike that he did have a license for or some weird little plastic car you can drive on a motorbike license.

I've been in some total death traps, especially once on Foula where it literally didn't have any brake pads left, any time he braked there was just a horrendous metal on metal grating and a vague slowing. Also had no bonnet and a dead sheep in the back once. Thankfully only a few of miles of one road and unlikely so see anyone unless the plane is coming 🤣

Double post

Reminds me. I had the shock once of custom and excise turning up super early knocking on my door one morning not long after I'd got an old LDV convoy to dip the tank.

I had no idea that would happen. It was still registered as a mini bus, so that was why. Once I'd converted it to a camper and changed its category with DVLA it never happened.

This will likely be part of the big push to maximize council/government income.

If the Porche was Pre-1982 they may be on historic vehicle tax, which is free, but you still need to 'pay' it on the DVLA site, but like everything else you don't get a tax disk anymore.

And unlike a new car you can't set up a direct debit, as there's no fee to pay.

So you have to remember to log on every year and 'pay' £0 for another year.

Pain in the backside.

<div id="post-12591509" class="bbp-reply-header d-flex justify-content-between p-0 mb-2">
<div class="d-flex justify-content-between w-100">

<div class="d-flex align-items-center"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8rem;">This will likely be part of the big push to maximize council/government income.</span></div>

</div>
</div>
you mean people paying their taxes?  often untaxed vehicles also have issues with MoTs (which help ensure vehicles are roadworthy - with tread on the tires, brakes that work and engines that don't pollute ridiculously in cyclists faces) and/or insurance which means if the driver crashes into you and leaves you disabled for the rest of your life someone pays for the care etc.   I expect that during Covid enforcement was relaxed (probably through staffing/staff safety issues rather than compassion for struggling drivers) and now they are following up on the people who thought they could get away with it.

Do Not Feed The Troll.

If they wanted to boost council revenue they could do worse than station a traffic warden on my street when the chippie is open. In a week of lunchtimes they could finance the council for a year from the I'll-only-be-a-minute-ers on double yellows and in disabled bays.

Do not under-estimate the incompetence of the DVLA in this.

A few years ago I had a car on auto-renewal tax (on monthly DD). Except it didn't auto-renew (even though the bank details hadn't changed, DD was still live, and I luckily had proof (a confirmation email) it was supposed to be on auto renewal etc. I only realised after several months when checking through bank statements and found it hadn't been taxed for several months.

Same broken incompetent organisation also too 10 whole months to sort a provisional license for my daughter. TEN MONTHS FFS.
Which meant not being able to even book lessons, and now is at the back of a huge backlog.

Yep- I'm in a battle at the moment, I got told I'd failed to insure my car, and they knew that because it was taxed. But it was only taxed because DVLA kept failing to SORN it. Didn't get a V5C, was told to wait a month and it'd come. It didn't come, was told to send in the green slip. Sent in the green slip, was told they couldn't process it because it wasn't the latest one (presumably there's one inbetween that was generated but I never got it). Told me to send in the form to get a new V5C and I'd get a free replacement. Had that rejected and was told I had to pay. Finally 2 months after I sent them a cheque for that, they managed to sorn it. It's been off the road the whole time, but apparently I should have insured it, and now I'm liable for a fine because the DVLA can't do their jobs and the offences system still thinks they can. Oh yeah and I could have paid £50 but because I've appealed now I have to pay £100 if it's unsuccesful

Sigh.