Window Tax

Three million cars still displaying a tax disc.

Three million drivers have yet to remove their windscreen tax discs, despite there no longer being any legal requirement for them.

A new survey of more than 18,000 people found that 11 per cent of drivers still show the tax discs in their windscreens, despite them being abolished three years ago. The disc was scrapped in October 2014 with the DVLA moving to an online system, although you’ll still get a letter in the post to remind you to pay up.

£41 million worth of fines due to unpaid vehicle excise duty were handed out in 2016. Five per cent of drivers said that they retained their discs as a reminder for when their tax is due, while another five per cent thought that their cars ended up “looking weird without one”. The poll was conducted by a popular breakdown service.

 

Kevin De’Cort MD, System Driving School said: “Some people find comfort in the retaining the tax disc as they use it as a reminder for their tax and MOT too. The idea of the nonexistent tax disc was to try and encourage people to update their records so that reminder letters are sent to the correct address but with an increase in fines.

“It’s clear that there is some work to be done to make the new paperless system work efficiently and there’s clearly still some affection for a little circle of paper on a windscreen!” Added De’Cort.
Despite the nostalgia, 61 per removed their tax discs back in 2014, while 23 per cent said that they had bought other vehicles since 2014 and these hadn’t come with a disc.

We wonder if the DVSA will bring the Disc back?