M3 driver nabbed for no motor tax

[alan b]

that's the car but owner still has it. He doesn't have it for the full six years it wasn't taxed though as far as I know. Galway seems abit easier to get away without it though. Mine wasn't taxed for two or three years before I bought it and was in Galway too

We are tax exempt in Galway sure

[GeeTI]

I'm driving over 30 years and have always had motor tax on my vehicles....only just paid 790 at the beginning of the month. Am I in the minority?

[8~)]

I generally do have tax paid up. I did get fined once for no tax... at a checkpoint I met on the way back from the local station to get the form stamped because the car had genuinely been off the road. Guard that stopped me wasn't interested in a chat. To be fair, my story would have sounded too convoluted to be true and he had probably heard every variation of excuse and story that could be dreamed up.

A car I bought years ago, on viewing it, I casually glanced at the disc on the screen and noticed it was taxed until the end of the month, which I though was odd given the value of the car and the general setting (cashpoint money value, met in a carpark, seller had no real details of the car, though did have it in his name). Only when I got home I realised the car was indeed taxed until the end the of month - the previous year. II din't know how the seller managed to drive for a year with no tax. I bought the car in Limerick suburbs so it's not like it was way out west in some rural spot with no checkpoints.

[GeeTI]

In fairness, there's a lot more checkpoints in my area these days... so not worth the hassle of trying to avoid paying the tax.

[Cold]

If the tax is checked at checkpoints only then it's extraordinarily unlikely to get checked. I can't remember the last time I saw a checkpoint. I could well imagine driving for a year without getting checked. But this is could be all discs being up to date talking and I might have gone through a few checkpoints without thinking about it.

Back in the "sign the form" days I would often do three months without tax and then tax it for three months which seemed like a reasonable 50% discount on utter nonsense.

[8~)]

I hear of plenty of checkpoints, though do not often see them myself.
Does lack of tax flag on ANPR? I did get pulled once for no NCT and I assumed ANPR was involved.

Scenario was that I was driving behind a marked car, the driver pulled in, I overtook, then seconds later he was back on the road flashing for me to pull in. I don't recall the guards even looking for discs on the windscreen. They just came to the driver door and enquired about the (lack of) NCT.

They were fair enough though - I had proof of the NCT booking and the car was prepped for NCT - so they let me on my way.

[mk2glenn]

A car I bought years ago, on viewing it, I casually glanced at the disc on the screen and noticed it was taxed until the end of the month, which I though was odd given the value of the car and the general setting (cashpoint money value, met in a carpark, seller had no real details of the car, though did have it in his name). Only when I got home I realised the car was indeed taxed until the end the of month - the previous year. II din't know how the seller managed to drive for a year with no tax. I bought the car in Limerick suburbs so it's not like it was way out west in some rural spot with no checkpoints.

I had a similar one. Bought a car the first week in April and seen it was taxed until the end of March. Taxed it online anyway & was waiting for the disc to come when I was stopped at a checkpoint where the Garda made a massive deal about the lack of tax.

Couldn't understand why, until I got home and seen it was March the previous year on the tax disc.

[Cold]

Re ANPR no doubt the official story is that they use it but they only seem to talk about that mobile app at checkpoints when they do the gleeful tweets

[mikerd4]

A garda I know was telling me when driving in and around Dublin on the M50 etc they turn the anpr system off in the car as it doesnt stop pinging and becomes very annoying very quickly

[miller]

What's the deal with it being SORN'd officially and caught on the road? Anyone caught like this?

[-alan-]

In fairness, there's a lot more checkpoints in my area these days... so not worth the hassle of trying to avoid paying the tax.

An out of date disk of any kind really doesn't help if you're undergoing the roadside interview/'hattitude test for some other perceived indiscretion and the disk or disks have to be factored into the equation..

[Mike205]

https://twitter.com/GardaTraffic/sta...60541489524736



That's 6 years and 4 months!

I wonder from what point he is expected to back pay this? From the day of the purchase on his name or what? What is going to happen in case he had it declared off the road for all that time? Surely they cannot ask him to back pay this through time it was declared off the road.

[mikerd4]

There was a member on Octane (possibly on here) that spotted his M3 was listed incorrectly on the tax book by one tax band. He contacted Shannon as he thought it had been a data entry issue when he bought the car and got the logbook. Turns out it was done when the car was imported several years earlier and 2 owners ago. Revenue wanted him to pay the diference in vrt and back tax. It took a solicitors letter for them to see sense that he couldnt be liable for previous owners

[Gn3dr]

What's the deal with it being SORN'd officially and caught on the road? Anyone caught like this?

Apparently it is treated as a much more serious issue as you have made a false declaration rather than not just taxing something.

[Gn3dr]

A garda I know was telling me when driving in and around Dublin on the M50 etc they turn the anpr system off in the car as it doesnt stop pinging and becomes very annoying very quickly

Ffs - so basically they turn it off to avoid doing their job