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Leaving a Car untaxed & insured on public roads.......a possibility may be???

5K views 25 replies 13 participants last post by  jaye944 
#1 · (Edited)
someone said you can leave a car untaxed or un-insured on a public road, if it is covered in a tarpoline or similar cover like you see many cars . how true is this?


I have been told that One reason is that because of the cover, the vehicle is not in use, and cannot be given any penalty or towed away if it is parked on a public road long as there are no parking restrictions. In one example I have seen the car is even parked in a controlled paring zone (resident's parking bay) (I can provide a google earthy image)

I have been told traffic attendents or anyone else is not allowed to remove the cover to check if the car is taxed or to see its registeration number? how true is it?
 
#4 · (Edited)
thanks for your comments mike, I might take some pics of a car parked (an old hillman) in a street near me, which I firstt noticed about a couple of years ago, and is still there, and has never been towed away. I don't know if it may or may not be taxed underneath the covers. But could check if it is registered on the MID register if it is insured for that matter.


what made me post this:-

Some Romanian bloke who lived near me told me that when he bought a used car from another neighbour in my street, he bought the car to take it to Romania, so he left the car untaxed and uninsured for until he was ready to arrange for it to be driven away by another bloke going back to Romania in a couple of months time, he himself did not drive.

He did not know about the UK law on the tax requirement of cars, so he left it parked on the road untaxed, and woke up one day to find that his car was being towed away by the DVLA .

When he intrupted them from taking his car away, he explained that he bought the car for his brother who lives in Romania, and had arranged for a Romanian driver to drive it away in a month's time.


So it was the DVLA men who adviced him that if hehad covered his car in tarpolin then his car would not have got towed away, so now he must pay for the car to be relased and advised him to cover the car in future.

His words were that way the car is not in use!!

So I am now wondering how true this could be?
 
#11 ·
thanks for your comments mike, I might take some pics of a car parked (an old hillman) in a street near me, which I firstt noticed about a couple of years ago, and is still there, and has never been towed away. I don't know if it may or may not be taxed underneath the covers. But could check if it is registered on the MID register if it is insured for that matter.


what made me post this:-

Some Romanian bloke who lived near me told me that when he bought a used car from another neighbour in my street, he bought the car to take it to Romania, so he left the car untaxed and uninsured for until he was ready to arrange for it to be driven away by another bloke going back to Romania in a couple of months time, he himself did not drive.

He did not know about the UK law on the tax requirement of cars, so he left it parked on the road untaxed, and woke up one day to find that his car was being towed away by the DVLA .

When he intrupted them from taking his car away, he explained that he bought the car for his brother who lives in Romania, and had arranged for a Romanian driver to drive it away in a month's time.


So it was the DVLA men who adviced him that if hehad covered his car in tarpolin then his car would not have got towed away, so now he must pay for the car to be relased and advised him to cover the car in future.

His words were that way the car is not in use!!

So I am now wondering how true this could be?
needs to happen SO much more IMO not educating yourself on a countrys laws you intend to exploit is no excuse to get away with it.
 
#5 ·
Despite not being in use it's still illegal to have a car physically on the road without Tax\MOT\Insurance. Luck will have a big part to play tho, if it's somewhere quiet where neighbours don't complain you would prob get away with it for ever but is it worth the risk? If the car hadn't been taxed since the SORN rules came into force that would make it easier also as there's no legal requirement to declare that the vehicle is off the road.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I agree, thats the impression I have always been under, but many a times i have also wondered how some people leave cars covered in tarpoline sheets or dedicated car covers and get away from displaying valid tax discs, this came to high light yesterday when this Romanian bloke l know was having a chat with me and tiold me about his experience recently.

but factually i know about the old Hillman still parked covered in a certain street, I can PM its location to anyone on Mig but will not declare its location publically in case this guy with Hillman gets into a problem, he has two Hillmans and looks like he also has an Old Rover that belongs to him, these are all parked around the same spot in the street, by now someone would have complained and as there is always a shortage of parking around here where I am .


here is a google earth picture in which i have blaked out its location to protect the owner of the car/cars. (not only that, its parked in a controlled parking zone which requires a clearl displaying of a permit)

 
#12 ·
well only because if this guy has been storing his pride and joy (an old Hillman) on a public road from years ago, and i don't want to highlight his location. His cars might become target for stealing or become under more scrutiny , I am sure there must be some loop hole in the law hence why he is getting away with it. ( but good luck to the bloke, he must be a car enthusiast with no off street parking like me)
 
#15 ·
That is fair enough, end of the day if you don't display your tax disc on a car you can be held liable, so how do these people go around covering cars from head to toe, and get away? thats the question? as i said even I was perplexed when this guy said he was adviced by the DVLA officials who were there to over sea the towing and it was them who gave him that hint.


So now I need to find more on this and of course i don't think you would get a staright answer from DVLA or any council officials, i think in the end if you covered your car then all o0f these authorities will be well confused as to where they stand legally and hence why i think many car owners have got away with this issue.

I think perhaphs only the police would have any poweres to uncover the car to examine any details, but again they may just drive past as they may have better things to do. They might not be interested in a car that apppears to be covered up day in day out year in year out, whenh it has not been in any traffic offence, i.e. the car has not envolved in a driving offence.
 
#16 ·
ive got 2 cars out side mine in the parking spaces coverd up even though they are both mot,tax and insured the cheaky feckers still uncover them to check !! one dvla officer nearly got a baseball bat round his head last time he touched them lol

so long as it sorn they wont bother to much as mine was cheack earlyer this year and it was sorn but insured and mot`d they didnt do nothing .. but i dont live on a main road they are mainly looking for dumped cars that have been coverd up more so but i would check just to make sure !
 
#20 ·
I thought you cannot sorn a car and cover it up and leave it on a public road. sorn can only be done if it stored on a private land.


PS.
How many years will it take for your avatar to finsih loading?lmao
 
#25 ·
thanks, for your comments, or your thought on this. (I didn't start this thread so that i can take advantage of this situation, I am sure if there was such a thing as covering cars up with tarpolin then people would start doing that instead of taxing their cars, (I obviously knew that to keep a vehicle on a public roads or land one must tax it) but what i couldn't understand was how some people have kept cars covered up year after year? sure at some point they are likely to have got warned ort fined or their cars towed away if they did not display the tax disc.....so basically i am still left pondering!!


especially when one of these cars is left in a street which is a controlled parking zone where one must not only display the local residential permit but also the road tax! besides now the requirement to have cars insured even if not driven or used when parked on public roads.
 
#26 ·
If on a road subject to a speed limit other than 30 mph then the car should display front and rear position lamps and rear number plate illuminated during the hours of darkness. The cover provides no exemption.

If on a road subject to a 30 mph limit then it can park without lights (reflector required) providing it is not within 10 metres of a junction, or in a marked parking area or marked Layby either by signing or different road colour.If within the 10m of a junction then ,lights required as above. RV Lighting Regs.

Excise Licence must be displayed and Registration numbers must not be obscured all of the time.

If the cover over the car touches the road then without lawful authority, deposit anything whatsover on the Highway and in consequence a user is injured or ENDANGERED. It is an offence under Highways Act.

The council can, by notice, order anything deposited on a Highway that causes a nuisance to be removed forthwith. Highways Act.

end of
 
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