3 Emerging threats to VED and enforcement,
false and foreign number plates
13. Evasion of congestion charges is a factor in
the increased level of VED evasion. Vehicle keepers may try to
avoid congestion charges by using false or cloned plates so that
they cannot be traced from the DVLA's records and hence can not
be sent the congestion charge penalty. Many of those vehicles
will also show as unlicensed if seen as part of the annual roadside
survey. VED enforcement against this group is causing significant
and increasing problems for the DVLA. The police experience comparable
difficulties when they try to track vehicles wanted in relation
to other crimes.
14. Part of the DVLA's response to this issue has
been to try to stop the opportunities for obtaining cloned or
false number plates by registering and regulating number plate
suppliers, thought by the police and the DVLA to number some 30,000.
Number plate suppliers should request sight of a driver licence
and proof of vehicle ownership before issuing a number plate.
A supplier's registration is removed if they do not to comply
with these requirements. The DVLA has also introduced a voluntary
technical standard for theft-resistant plates to help tackle the
problem of theft and criminal use of number plates.
15. The Department acknowledged that false and cloned
number plates are a weakness in the system. Neither it nor the
DVLA has data on the level of false or cloned number plates, or
how many vehicles with false plates had a forged VED licence.[22]
The DVLA does not cross-reference or collate its evasion-related
data with partner organisations, for example Transport for London,
to attempt to spot anomalies or emerging trends in evasion.
16. The increasing number of foreign-registered vehicles
is a relatively new factor in VED evasion. Vehicle keepers should
obtain a VED licence once they have been on UK roads for six months.
Again, neither the DVLA nor the Department could provide any data
on the scale of foreign-registered vehicles evading VED. They
also do not know whether a foreign vehicle has been in the UK
for six months as to do so with the certainty necessary for enforcement,
they would have to record every entry into the country.[23]
17. The insertion of electronic chips into number
plates would help to tackle evasion. But important issues remain
to be resolved: agreement about the standards that would apply
and whether these should be Europe-wide; whether chips should
be adopted in a "big-bang" approach or on new vehicles
only; and supply of the supporting infrastructure as chip readers
would be required to decipher the information coming from the
chips. The Department recognises the importance of these issues
to VED evasion and should lead work with other enforcement agencies
to identify appropriate solutions.[24]
22 Qq 23-25, 28, 30 Back
23
Q 36 Back
24
Q 57 Back
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