RAC calls on Government to crack down on non-UK vehicle tax evaders

• Millions of pounds that could be invested in the roads is going uncollected
• Roadworthiness of foreign cars on UK roads called into question

The RAC is calling on the Government to urgently create a database of non-UK-registered cars as they enter and leave the UK, amidst concerns that millions of pounds of revenue are going uncollected due to untaxed foreign cars being driven on British roads on a long-term basis.

Under the current system visiting non-UK cars* must be registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) once they have been here for six months when they must pay a £55 first registration fee, ensure they have paid vehicle excise duty (VED) – ‘car tax’, obtain an MOT if the vehicle is over three years old and in some instances pay VAT**.

However, despite the fact the UK Border Force gathers details of every non-UK vehicle entering and leaving the country this information is not currently used by the DVLA for licensing purposes which means the Government is missing out on valuable tax revenue.

And, as the DVLA has no idea whether non-UK-registered vehicles have stayed in the country longer than six months many over three years may well not have a valid MOT and therefore will be contravening insurance rules, thereby compromising the safety of all road users. The lack of a record also means that EU-registered and other foreign vehicles are more likely to evade fines generated by the UK’s army of speed cameras – a further source of revenue that could be ploughed back into the country’s roads.

Official figures show that around 60,000 non-UK vehicles are registered with the DVLA each year, but there are estimates that around 15,000 vehicles are not being registered***.

The very nature of this worrying problem means this figure is speculative and that the real number could be much higher in the tens of thousands, especially considering that some 2.5m cars alone use the Eurotunnel every year.****

With the average rate of vehicle tax in the region of £200, the 15,000 non-UK unregistered vehicle estimate would mean £3m in VED alone is not being collected each year. This could, of course, be well in excess of £10m if there were to be more than 50,000 EU-registered or foreign cars remaining in the UK long term.

Currently, the DVLA only records information about non-UK-registered vehicles, including those that are unlicensed, when they are notified through offence reports provided by the police, by other enforcement agencies and via sightings from members of the public. Between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2014, 20,349 notifications were received. Vehicles that over-stay the exemption and do not register and pay VED can be subject to enforcement action which can include wheel-clamping, impounding and disposal.

RAC head of external affairs Pete Williams said: “Given the prevalence of technology such as automatic number plate recognition, it is beyond belief that in the 21st century two important Government agencies – namely the UK Border Force and DVLA – are not already sharing information in a system that allows us to keep track of the comings and goings of non-UK vehicles.

“As things stand now, we don’t have a clue about the true number of foreign cars in the UK that should be paying Vehicle Excise Duty or how many of them that require MOTs to make sure they are road legal and can be insured. What’s more, drivers of unregistered foreign cars and vans are escaping speeding fines generated by safety cameras as there is no easy means of matching foreign number plates to their owners who may or may not live hundreds of miles away in another country.

“This is likely to anger the millions of honest UK motorists who play by the rules and pay their way to use the roads. We are effectively relying on the good citizenship of individuals to register their foreign vehicles themselves once they have been here for six months, but there is little encouragement to do so – especially when you consider that driving a car with foreign plates can make it likely you will evade automatically-generated fines for offences like speeding or driving in a bus lane.

“Other countries in Europe have got to grips with this. Norway, for instance, has a system for tracking foreign cars and billing them for using toll roads. In the interests of ensuring all vehicles on Britain’s roads are roadworthy, fully taxed and insured, it really is high time the UK followed suit.

“We understand that DVLA, the UK Border Force and the police are looking at how data can be used to identify foreign-registered vehicles that have been in the UK for longer than six months, so we urge the Government to make finding an effective solution a high priority.”