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failure to display tax disk while abroad

Hello,
I am wondering if you'd have some advice for me. I received my road tax reminder on the very last day before the expiry (31 August). Ok, fair enough, I should have remembered myself, but I didn't. My bad. I immediately renewed online, but I am not going to be home to place the new disk on my car. I know that if I renew online I have 5 working days after expiry to display it, but I'll be back 15 days after expiry! Do you think displaying the Confirmation of Tax Disc Application next to the old disk + a note saying I am abroad would be enough to avoid a fine? What else can I do?
Thanks

Philippe
«13

Comments

  • bazster
    bazster Posts: 7,436 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I don't know what this is doing in the parking forum but anyhow, I think the chances of PC Plod noticing your missing tax disc are vanishingly small.
    Je suis Charlie.
  • Ms_Chocaholic
    Ms_Chocaholic Posts: 12,761 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If you are in any doubt about the Police seeing your expired tax disc ... is there any way you can park the car on private land while you're way (a drive)
    Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
    You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
  • bazster
    bazster Posts: 7,436 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    If you are in any doubt about the Police seeing your expired tax disc ... is there any way you can park the car on private land while you're way (a drive)

    Or put it in an Asda car park and collect a whole windscreen-full of worthless invoices!
    Je suis Charlie.
  • gowgowuk
    gowgowuk Posts: 411 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Sorry, I thought this thread was about Parking tickets & Fines (in general, not just parking fines). I'm afraid I don't know anyone with a private drive (I'm in Edinburgh city center). And I don't really trust any neighbour to give me my keys and open my mail for me...
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 155,423 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    So stick it in a private car park, a busy Supermarket one. Ignore any fake PCN you acquire.
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
    CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
    Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
  • If left parked on a street in Central Edinburgh, I think the possibility of getting a penalty notice for not displaying a current tax disc would be quite high - either a passing policeman or a local 'busybody' may report the car. A note explaining why, may even draw attention to the tax disc being out of date!

    If you really don't know anyone (doesn't have to be in Edinburgh) who will let you park on their drive, then do a search for something like "parking on private drives". You will come up with several websites where private individuals offer their drives for parking (for a fee) whilst the owner goes on holiday etc.
  • mikey72
    mikey72 Posts: 14,680 Forumite
    edited 1 September 2012 at 6:59PM
    Coupon-mad wrote: »
    So stick it in a private car park, a busy Supermarket one. Ignore any fake PCN you acquire.

    So, you do condone abusing private car parks, and suggest using a space in a busy car park for long term parking, simply because the fines are unenforceable?

    Surely the advice recommended would be to find an off road car park, pay for the correct amount of time the op will be there, and put the tax disk on when they come back?
    (Bear in mind on this forum there is a tendency to suggest a solution that initially will be designed to bate a PPC, and then advise you to ignore the tickets.)

    I would suggest finding a quiet car park, where there will be free spaces, and it isn’t busy, so probably not one that is subject to the need for PPC’s, and avoid getting the ticket in the first place. If not, a pay and display that is pay on exit, (and accept if someone goes to the trouble of buying the land, marking out parking spaces, and maintaining it, it’s not the parking fairy, and it does actually involve a cost to them).
    It won't make any difference to the security, just somewhere reasonably safe, as they're all quiet at night. Of course, if the busy ones are safer, ever a better reason to abuse them for long term parking, it's free, and they can't actually enforce parking for their customers.

    Or if you’re out of the country, airport parking?
  • gowgowuk
    gowgowuk Posts: 411 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Thanks for the replies,
    Gosh, I didn't realize it would be so complicated. I would have thought being away during renewal would be a frequent enough situation... and I was hoping for some sort of "get a temporary paperwork and display it"... Because I'm working and leaving soon, I'm not sure I'll be able to put it in a car park. Also, wouldn't it cost almost as much as a fine? Not sure why they say "The maximum penalty for failure to display is £200". Does it mean that sometimes the penalty is less than maximum?
    So, I guess everybody here don't think that displaying the proof of the Road Tax purchase would be enough. I *might* decide to trust my neighbour with my post, but they don't make things easy since it's coming in "an unmarked envelope".
    Thanks again
  • Plushchris
    Plushchris Posts: 3,592 Forumite
    If it were me I'd just take my chances and leave it, if plod sees it they should be able to see you have paid for the tax if they run a computer check on it. You could leave a small note next to tax disc to that effect but you would also be advertising to car theives that you are away for a while...
    Missing Tesco R&R since Feb '07 :A & now a "Tesco veteran" apparently! ;)
  • esmerobbo
    esmerobbo Posts: 4,979 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    Your old tax disc is valid for 5 days if you have purchased online before the last day of the month of expiry!
    You could put the online acknowledgement on your car next too the old disc, but after 5 days plod could take an interest!

    http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/pressoffice/pressreleases/archive2008/280808_09.aspx
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