Quick VED Question

[DITTRICH]

One of my cars was MOT'd just after the tax expired and failed on emissions. A sensor was ordered and fitted and the car passed on the partial retest. The car is insured and I have just paid for the VED which states that it runs from the 1st April 2014. However, we are now more than 14 days into April and I don't think this grace period for not displaying a tax disc applies because I would have had to apply for the tax disc before the old one expired to take advantage of this. Clearly, I have a taxed and insured vehicle but am I right in thinking that I could still theoretically be done by plod for not having a valid tax disc displayed even though my tax is paid and the disc is no doubt in the post? Come 1st October? I think this all becomes academic as the tax disc will be no longer. The safest thing is not to drive the car, but it seems unfair that I can't drive it when I've paid everything. Am I being too cautious?

 

[V12]

Don't worry. Police don't care as long as it shows as taxed on their number plate recognition system.

 

[John]

I'd also take a punt on it as is if you are not going to show up on ANPR.

 

[meeeb]

Firstly 'plod' (does the derogatory term make you feel better?) don't 'do' you, the DVLA does.

Secondly there is no 14 days grace. It's an urban myth perpetuated by the ignorant.

If you have applied for and been issued with a VEL even though you haven't yet received it, i.e. the VED has already been paid, then it's extremely unlikely that any action would be taken against you for failing to display.

 

[John]

I never knew Plod was derogatory - I always thought it was from Noddy...

 

[st13phil]

I never knew Plod was derogatory - I always thought it was from Noddy...

PC Plod is indeed a character from the Noddy books. I don't think of it as a derogatory term, but there are lots of words that people have been taught to take offence at.

 

[meeeb]

PC Plod is indeed a character from the Noddy books. I don't think of it as a derogatory term, but there are lots of words that people have been taught to take offence at.

Some people do. Look at it this way, if you'd been stopped for a traffic offence and you were going through the errant motorist's grovelling routine, would you refer to the police officer, or his/her colleagues, face to face, as 'the plod'??

 

[John]

If it isn't derogatory, doesn't really matter does it?

Different if you called them pigs or the filth.

 

[kth286]

You could now check online that it is indeed recorded as taxed, and print off the sheet for proof in case stopped.

 

[DSM10000]

You could now check online that it is indeed recorded as taxed, and print off the sheet for proof in case stopped.

Last time I renewed the VED a week before expiry (admittedly at the Post Office) it took 5 days before the on-line system was updated to show the new date of liability.

It updated on the last day of the month so perhaps this is when the computer runs an update? If so then the NPR system would not be triggered.

As for the grace period that one poster tells us is an urban myth perpetuated by the igonrant ,see here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/179258/ved_administration.pdf.pdf

Perhaps before accusing people of ignorance they should check the facts and comment in context!

 

[Dieselman]

Don't worry. Police don't care as long as it shows as taxed on their number plate recognition system.

I agree with this. The police don't prosecute for no RFL anyway, they just notify DVLA.

Just drive it.

 

[meeeb]

As for the grace period that one poster tells us is an urban myth perpetuated by the igonrant ,see here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/179258/ved_administration.pdf.pdf

Perhaps before accusing people of ignorance they should check the facts and comment in context!

The timeline of the original post is unclear and my assumption was that the vehicle had been used on a road without an excise licence having been applied for. If this is so, there is a failing to display offence. My comment was thus in the context of this thread.


Renewal of licence etc.
The period of 14 days following the time when a licence or nil licence
for or in respect of the vehicle, or a relevant declaration applying to the
vehicle, ceases to be in force, but only if an application for a licence or
nil licence for or in respect of the vehicle to run from that time has been
received before that time

This exemption to displaying a VEL became law less than a year ago, though as you say, it is now in force.

The isolated use of the phrase 'period of grace' is a simplification which can be construed by some - the ignorant - as being a 14 days leeway for applying for a licence, and this is not so. It is that situation to which I was referring.

 

[V12]

Even if you are a month late with taxing, in practise most coppers won't bother you. They usually pull cars that look suspicious, are on SORN or have been out of tax for a decent length of time.

I know this is the approach that the Hampshire traffic police take.
They have also stopped pulling every car that shows as uninsured as the MID is not always correct, especially for motor trade policies.

Total generalisation but if a reasonable looking car is driven by a more mature gent in a suit they are unlikely to bother.

On my way to a MOT a police car pulled up next to me at a red light to tell me I had no tax or MOT. I told them I was on the way to the test and they smiled and drove on...

 

[kth286]

Even if you are a month late with taxing, in practise most coppers won't bother you. They usually pull cars that look suspicious, are on SORN or have been out of tax for a decent length of time.

I know this is the approach that the Hampshire traffic police take.
They have also stopped pulling every car that shows as uninsured as the MID is not always correct, especially for motor trade policies.

Total generalisation but if a reasonable looking car is driven by a more mature gent in a suit they are unlikely to bother.

On my way to a MOT a police car pulled up next to me at a red light to tell me I had no tax or MOT. I told them I was on the way to the test and they smiled and drove on...

So you had your suit on that day

 

[V12]

So you had your suit on that day

Had just changed a ball joint so it looked believable that I was working on the car for the MOT I guess!

 

[nigel cross]

Depends on your face, even if you have a new tax disc , but you haven't displayed it on your car is still an offence, according to junior plod

 

[John]

They usually pull cars that look suspicious, are on SORN or have been out of tax for a decent length of time.

I watch a lot of Motorway / Traffic Cops and Interceptors shows and this is indeed what they usually do. Most cops seem to be fitted with a scrote detector - as do probably many petrolheads (I certainly have one) and this goes off when the usual turd-mobile appears - and often they find more than one offence.

Depends on your face, even if you have a new tax disc , but you haven't displayed it on your car is still an offence, according to junior plod

This is not in any doubt on this thread i.e. it is definitely an offence, but indeed, it's whether you get away with it. If you don't show up on ANPR, you probably will - not to mention come October, this law will be redundant anyway.

Bigger fish to fry springs to mind.

 

[DSM10000]

The timeline of the original post is unclear and my assumption was that the vehicle had been used on a road without an excise licence having been applied for. If this is so, there is a failing to display offence. My comment was thus in the context of this thread.



This exemption to displaying a VEL became law less than a year ago, though as you say, it is now in force.

The isolated use of the phrase 'period of grace' is a simplification which can be construed by some - the ignorant - as being a 14 days leeway for applying for a licence, and this is not so. It is that situation to which I was referring.

As you did not know the time line and you "assumed" certain facts them it really was not in context.

Surely it would have been better from a forum perspective to have clarified how the grace period applies than to use the phrase "ignorant" ?

 

[markjay]

Depends on your face, even if you have a new tax disc , but you haven't displayed it on your car is still an offence, according to junior plod

Correct, however whem my wife got a ticket for 'failure to display' I appealed and sent a photocopy of the valid tax disc (which was indeed not displayed at the time of the offence), and the PCN was cancelled on appeal. Common sense prevailed...

 

[Dieselman]

Most cops seem to be fitted with a scrote detector - as do probably many petrolheads (I certainly have one) and this goes off when the usual turd-mobile appears - and often they find more than one offence.

I can normally spot the "Great Unwashed" and once put it to good use after witnessing a collision, eventually chasing the offender after he went AWOL.

Shame he jumped down some railway cutting buttressed walling and broke his ankles and knocked himself out...