Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

(asked on 20th April 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking on untaxed vehicles without a statutory off road notification which are parked on private land.


Answered by
Rachel Maclean Portrait
Rachel Maclean
This question was answered on 27th April 2021

The DVLA operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle vehicle excise duty evasion. These range from reminder letters, penalties and court prosecutions through to the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, wheelclamping and the removal of unlicensed vehicles.

It is an offence to keep an unlicensed and/or uninsured vehicle. During the initial stages of the pandemic, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) took a pragmatic approach to enforcement action. This ensured that those impacted by the pandemic were not further disadvantaged and that a vehicle that might have been needed in an emergency was not immobilised or removed. However, the onus remains with the registered keeper of a vehicle to ensure that their legal obligations are fulfilled and that vehicles are licensed on time and covered by an appropriate insurance policy.

Unlicensed vehicles kept in certain off-road areas can be subject to enforcement action. These locations include, but are not limited to, public house car parks, private and municipal car parks, retail car parks, housing association roads, unadopted/privately maintained roads and common land. However, enforcement action cannot be taken against unlicensed vehicles being kept on land associated with a dwelling, for example a driveway.

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