Is your car taxed? Four seized on a Ludgvan road

A watering can left by the front step. A tax disc that quietly ran out months ago. It is easy for a vehicle to slip off the road unnoticed, right up until someone else notices it for you.

📷Credit: Devon & Cornwall Police

Why officers were in Ludgvan

Following concerns raised by residents in Ludgvan, officers from the Penzance Neighbourhood Policing Team attended the area and seized four untaxed vehicles that had been parked on the public highway.

Devon & Cornwall Police is a DVLA Devolved Powers Partner. Under the Vehicle Excise Duty (Immobilisation, Removal and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations 1997, authorised officers can immobilise and remove untaxed vehicles once checks against DVLA records confirm the tax has lapsed.

📷Credit: Devon & Cornwall Police

What happens when a vehicle is seized

A release of vehicles like this does not happen on the spot. Officers first check a vehicle’s registration against DVLA records, and if it comes back untaxed with no valid SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) in place, that is when the powers under the 1997 Regulations come in and a recovery vehicle is called. The four cars and vans pictured, a silver hatchback, a dark people carrier, a saloon and a white van, were all taken away on the back of a recovery lorry.

Once a vehicle has been removed, getting it back generally means the registered keeper sorting the tax (or proving a valid SORN) and paying any release and storage fees, rather than the vehicle simply being handed back.

📷Credit: Devon & Cornwall Police

How to check if your car is taxed

It only takes a couple of minutes, and it is the one thing that stands between a car parked on the street and one on the back of a lorry.

• Go to gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax and enter the registration number. No account or login needed.
• The result shows whether tax is current, and the expiry date if it is.
• If it has lapsed and the car is still on the road, it needs taxing straight away.
• If the vehicle is not going anywhere for a while, a SORN declared through the same GOV.UK service is the legal way to keep it off the road without paying tax.

Worth a quick check even on a car you assume is fine, particularly if a direct debit has failed or a renewal date has simply been forgotten about.

“Keep it taxed, or keep it off the road with a valid SORN” is the line accompanying the seized vehicles, and for the four now sitting at a recovery yard rather than a Ludgvan roadside, it is a reminder that arrived a little too late.

📷Credit: Devon & Cornwall Police