Clampdown on illegal vehicles

sevenhills

When the police have a clampdown on illegal vehicles, they catch loads of illegal vehicles. At least they do where I live, close to Bradford and Leeds.

What I have noticed is that the police do not, cannot take illegal vehicles off the road that are parked up. Registering a vehicle is not registering ownership. Is the UK unique in not registering the owner of a vehicle and would registering the owner help the police in getting illegal vehicles off the road?

I reported a van with no MOT and no tax, it has been used recently and there has been no enforcement action. The van is in an unroadworthy condition, yet it has been driven on the road. I guess lockdown could be used as an excuse.

Ian1961

Regards your 2nd paragraph, i watched a programme the other night and the police called a recovery firm to remove a couple of cars which were illegally on the road, one of which was parked up and then towed away, the show also said 1 in 30 vehicles are being driven illegally in the UK. Obviously there has been a massive cut in police numbers and the traffic section can't deal with all offenders,if the police numbers were increased just think of all the cars off the road not polluting and freeing up more roadspace!

Dr_Crypto

The police are under resourced. They can barely deal with serious crimes and those involving violence. Minor motoring just isn’t a priority for them. 

Grumpy_chap

I reported a dumped car recently to our local Council and they responded to advise that having inspected the vehicle, they did not consider it to be dumped (which is their perogative), but if they did consider that a vehicle may be dumped, then the criteria are:
1. If the vehicle is showing as taxed and insured they won't even go to inspect
2. No action of any kind will be taken unless the vehicle is untaxed for at least two months and two days
3. If the vehicle is showing as untaxed or uninsured, then they will inspect only following a report and the criteria at (2) being satisfied
4. If they think a vehicle is dumped (at 3), then they do a repeat visit after three months and if they then agree the vehicle is still dumped, they will then consider instigating action.

Other Local Authorities may operate to different criteria, but the above means a dumped vehicle is dumped for a long time before any chance of it getting sorted.

Grey_Critic

Check the vehicle on DVLA website - If it shows not taxed then you can report it. They will then send a man and a van and clamp it.

One of my neighbours bought a BMW X at auction and parked it on the roadside. Before he got chance to tax/mot it he was clamped. He was upset.

sevenhills

Grey_Critic said:

Check the vehicle on DVLA website - If it shows not taxed then you can report it. They will then send a man and a van and clamp it.

One of my neighbours bought a BMW X at auction and parked it on the roadside. Before he got chance to tax/mot it he was clamped. He was upset.

It was MOTed but not taxed, then he taxed it and then cancelled the tax; but not it has neither.

But the police are leaving it alone because they expect it to be clamped for no tax, but that hasn't happened yet.

So it is being driven illegally. The problem is that it may be a minor problem, but then the police stop cars for minor problems, then they find other things.

[Deleted User]

Ian1961 said:

Regards your 2nd paragraph, i watched a programme the other night and the police called a recovery firm to remove a couple of cars which were illegally on the road, one of which was parked up and then towed away, the show also said 1 in 30 vehicles are being driven illegally in the UK. Obviously there has been a massive cut in police numbers and the traffic section can't deal with all offenders,if the police numbers were increased just think of all the cars off the road not polluting and freeing up more roadspace!

The 1:30 figure is almost certainly about insurance as that is the number I have seen quoted repeatedly by groups like MIB and so on, approx 30m cars on the road, 1m+ uninsured

If police need money they should be allowed to issue on the spot fines (and keep the money) for all the illegal modifications from dodgy license plates to undeclared modifications to people removing their plate to put it on the dash to avoid ANPR, pay for more police and squad cars. Ditto more red light cameras, cameras for people making illegal turns, more average speed cameras outside schools, residential areas etc

Norman_Castle

sevenhills said:

So it is being driven illegally. The problem is that it may be a minor problem, but then the police stop cars for minor problems, then they find other things.

I expect the police would be happy to catch someone driving it but are unlikely to act on reports that it has been driven.

AdrianC

There are times when a vehicle with no MOT or tax can be driven legally...

Bigphil1474

Councils won't just tow away a car because someone thinks it's been dumped. They have to do a lot of checks to make sure they aren't removing a car that belongs to someone who for whatever reason hasn't taxed it or kept it road legal (Long stay in hospital, death in the family etc.). They don't tow away illegal cars, just cars that are abandoned.

AdrianC

Bigphil1474 said:

Councils won't just tow away a car because someone thinks it's been dumped. They have to do a lot of checks to make sure they aren't removing a car that belongs to someone who for whatever reason hasn't taxed it or kept it road legal (Long stay in hospital, death in the family etc.). They don't tow away illegal cars, just cars that are abandoned.

I'm reading this part of the OP as the van is stored off the road, but the OP believes it has been used on it.

sevenhills said:

I reported a van with no MOT and no tax, it has been used recently and there has been no enforcement action. The van is in an unroadworthy condition, yet it has been driven on the road.

It is, of course, perfectly legal to store an untaxed, untested, unroadworthy vehicle on private land.

The only way the authorities can do anything about that is if they catch the vehicle on the road. Then it's the driver who is liable for prosecution, not the keeper. The only potential prosecution the keeper could face is if it's not SORNed, and that's a minor offence that doesn't need it to be seen on road.