100 cars a month seized in clampdown on road tax-dodgers
More than 1,200 cars have been seized by police in the Black Country and Staffordshire in just 12 months, after motorists were found to be flouting the law by not having road tax.
These latest figures mean that the number of illegal cars taken off the streets of the Black Country more than doubled when compared with the previous year.
Dozens more have already been confiscated by police since the start of this year.
A total of 1,033 vehicles were captured in 2016, which is up from 463 in 2015, according to the new data released by West Midlands Police.
The highest number confiscated was in Wolverhampton, where 409 cars and vans were rounded up, followed by 379 in Sandwell, 153 in Dudley and 92 in Walsall.
A further 223 were rounded up around Staffordshire last year.
It is an offence to drive a vehicle or allow someone to drive a vehicle on a road without road tax.
Motorists caught flouting the rules can be fined up to £1,000, or five times the annual road tax fee.
While tax discs are no longer required by vehicles, automatic number plate recognition has made it easier for the authorities to haul up offenders.
During the past week alone, officers swooped in Wolverhampton to seize five cars from the same street.
They took the vehicles from Mendip Close in Parkfields, with a Seat Ibiza, a Toyota Previa, a 1980s Volvo saloon, and a VW Golf cabriolet among the cars that were impounded.
A van in Penn Road and a car in Parkfields Road were also seized and their drivers reported for driving without insurance.
A few days earlier a black Fiat was discovered without road tax in Cupfields Avenue, Tipton.
Last month also saw three cars towed away in Tipton as part of a crackdown by police and Sandwell Council.
A Hyundai Santa Fe, a Toyota Yaris and Vauxhall Corsa were all confiscated from St Marks Road, Albert Street and Coronation Road.
West Midlands Police spokeswoman Gina Lycett said there were many factors that could have led to an increase in cars being seized in the Black Country on behalf of the DVLA last year.
She said different police teams may choose to increase patrols, and reports of vehicles causing an obstruction could also lead to them being removed if they were discovered to be untaxed.
"There are lots of reasons why there could be an increase.
"It might be that the police teams are tackling it as an issue and that is why more have been seized," she said.
For traffic operations, police officers will use automatic number plate readers to identify vehicle owners flouting the law.
As well as tackling untaxed vehicles, police in Staffordshire have made clamping down on motorists driving without insurance.
Reducing this driving offence has been a priority as part of the on-going Cars Behind Bars scheme launched by Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis in 2013.
These targeted efforts by the force has seen thousands of illegal cars removed from the streets, with many then scrapped and some sold off at auction.
Meanwhile latest figures for West Mercia Police, which covers Worcestershire, show 838 vehicles were seized in the force region area in 2016 – up by almost seven times on 2014.
Anne Tugwell, of West Mercia Police, said the force has seen a jump in the number of vehicles being seized in the past year.
She explained that the reason for this is because the force has increased the number of its officers trained in implementing DVLA powers.
She said: "West Mercia has invested in training up officers in enforcing the law, especially in regard of foreign registered unlicensed vehicles.
"This has led directly to the jump in the number of vehicles being seized."
The force are also warning those people who do not have tax, that they face having their vehicle being taken from them at the side of the road.
Ms Tugwell added: "Untaxed vehicles are routinely seized at the roadside. They are only returned to the owner upon payment of due tax and a penalty of up to £1,000.
"Alternatively they may be scrapped or sold when owners do not claim the vehicle back."
The DVLA will also issue the registered keeper with an out-of-court settlement demand for the unpaid tax which will lead to a prosecution if the keeper fails to pay up.
The registered keeper of any impounded vehicles will have to pay a release fee and a £160 surety, plus storage fees, to get the vehicle back.
Paper tax discs were scrapped in 2014 as part of moves by the Government to embrace new technology.
Despite these changes, it remains the obligation of drivers to renew their tax, and reminders continue to be sent out.
