Number of tax evaders wrongly declaring vehicles off the road soars
Amount vehicles declared off-the-road but still driven untaxed rises from one per cent in 2015 to 12 per cent this year
A sharp rise in the number of tax evaders wrongly declaring vehicles off-the-road has been reported.
Figures published by the DVLA show that 12 per cent of 755,000 untaxed vehicles on UK roads were wrongly declared SORN in an effort to avoid paying tax in the last year.
That’s a huge increase over 2015 when only one per cent of untaxed cars on UK roads had been declared off of them.
Further adding to that, 15 per cent had been spotted driving following a tax refund request while 70 per cent had expired.
The same DVLA report also revealed 34 per cent of untaxed vehicles had changed ownership over the last 12 months.
Another increased statistic has been the total number of untaxed vehicles on UK roads — rising from 1.4 per cent of all traffic in 2015 to 1.8 per cent in 2017.
Despite the increase in these figures, the DVLA has remained positive about taxed vehicles in the UK.
Oliver Morley, DVLA chief executive said: “More than 98 per cent of all vehicles on the road are correctly taxed. We continue to collect around £6 billion in tax every year which clearly shows that the overwhelming majority of motorists stay legal and tax their vehicles on time.
“We are cracking down on those who break the law by driving an untaxed vehicle and our message to tax dodgers is clear – tax it or lose it.”
