Road tax chitty must be paid

The warning was issued yesterday by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) at the start of a month-long enforcement campaign.

DVLA officials unveiled their armoury to be deployed on the region's roads in conjunction with traffic officers from Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria police forces.

The latest 'Stingray' camera unit will operate on the region's roads, pinpointing untaxed vehicles through high-speed computer technology.

Additional wheel-clamping devices will be in use, backing up what DVLA officials said was potentially their most potent new weapon, a freephone hotline to report untaxed vehicles.

A two-week publicity drive is taking place to publicise the hotline number and warning motorists of the possible consequences, should they risk not renewing their car tax disc.

Unattended vehicles with expired tax discs will be clamped, with owners facing a £200 unclamping fee.

If that is not paid, the vehicle will then be impounded and owners then have a maximum two-week period to come forward and comply with road tax obligations.

Otherwise, offending vehicles could be destroyed in a mobile crusher.

Roadside vehicle checks will be stepped up by the police during the coming month, in conjunction with DVLA officials.

The message put over by the DVLA is that there will be, "no exceptions, no excuses and no escape" for road tax cheats.

Film star Chitty Chitty Bang Bang features in the advertising campaign, highlighting the fact that no exceptions would be made.

DVLA enforcement manager John Moore said: "Nationally in the past five years we have impounded 150,000 vehicles and nearly half have been crushed because no one has come back to claim them.

"We estimate there are 64,000 untaxed vehicles, costing the rest of the law-abiding tax payers £7.1m-a-year."

Mr Moore said that 96 per cent of motorists pay their road tax on time, but many of the rest also fail to meet insurance and MoT regulations.

* The hotline number is (08000) 325202.