Is your region a car tax dodging hot spot being targeted by the DVLA?

The DVLA has launched a campaign to catch untaxed motorists in the UK regions with the highest number of enforcement actions for the offence.

The organisation said it had taken nearly 590,000 enforcement actions against keepers of untaxed vehicles in these regions in 2019. Belfast saw the highest number of enforcements at 78,501, followed by Birmingham with 61,531 and Glasgow with 34,375.

The rest of the list, and therefore the regions that will be under the DVLA’s microscope, are (in alphabetical order) Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Doncaster, East London, Edinburgh, Leicester, Manchester, Newcastle, Northampton, North London, Nottingham, Peterborough, Romford, Sheffield, South London and Swansea.

Julie Lennard, DVLA chief executive, said: “The number of untaxed vehicles on the road is falling, but we are determined to reduce this even further. We operate a range of measures to make vehicle tax easy to pay and hard to avoid, so there really is no excuse if you fail to tax your vehicle. While the vast majority of motorists do the right thing and tax correctly, this campaign highlights the real consequences that motorists face if they don’t tax their vehicles.”

The DVLA says that any vehicle spotted on the road that isn’t taxed, or is wrongly declared SORN, risks being clamped or impounded by DVLA teams, which travel the country equipped with number plate recognition cameras.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “While the vast majority of motorists abide by the law and tax their vehicles correctly, high-profile enforcement campaigns like this are needed to make sure the consequences of not doing so are fully understood.

“This DVLA campaign gives a very clear warning of the action that will be taken on untaxed vehicles. Having your vehicle clamped is expensive and inconvenient so it’s far simpler to make sure you tax it.”