Forgot to renew car tax - £1,000 fine? aarrgghhh..

toozie_2

Bogof_Babe wrote:

My husband has a couple of "hobby" classic cars, that are garaged all year and just taken to shows a couple of times a year.

He has just realised that the tax on one of them expired at the end of May, and he forgot to renew it. Lots been going on - illness in the family etc. - although I know that is no excuse.

We are now panicking as the renewal notice states that a fine of "minimum £1,000" may be imposed. This seems ridiculously high for a genuine oversight, and he hasn't even driven the car in the meantime.

Does anyone have any experience of this, i.e. whether they do impost the fine, and if £1,000 is the minimum how high are they likely to take it? Any suggestions as to how to avoid a severe penalty? He is going to the Post Office tomorrow with all his documents (the MOT and Insurance are up to date) to throw himself on their mercy.

£1,000 is a month's take home pay for him - we could pay it out of savings if we really have to, but it seems ridiculous when you think how lightly real criminals get off. The car itself is only worth a few hundred £. :rolleyes:

What year and month were your vehicles first registered?

Maisie

There's an old car parked in the road near us reg.. xxxxxxxxxxxM.
It's not taxed and on the windscreen is a note saying 'tax exempt'.
It doesn't even show an old tax disc.

Can this car be tax exempt in any way?

mah_jong

Maisie wrote:

There's an old car parked in the road near us reg.. xxxxxxxxxxxM.
It's not taxed and on the windscreen is a note saying 'tax exempt'.
It doesn't even show an old tax disc.

Can this car be tax exempt in any way?

AFAIK if you dont pay for your disc, historic vehicle or what ever...you still have to go throgh the same process of taxing it. You get a tax disc saying with NIL on it! You only get them for a year too.
Ma

Savvy_Sue

mah_jong wrote:

AFAIK if you dont pay for your disc, historic vehicle or what ever...you still have to go throgh the same process of taxing it. You get a tax disc saying with NIL on it! You only get them for a year too.
Ma

I believe this is correct: local police managed not to renew their tax discs lately, red faces all round. Quote in the local paper along the lines of "although the police don't have to pay for tax discs, we ought to display valid ones to set the rest of you a good example"!