BN66 - Time to fight back (Chapter 3)

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Degraaf, Steed etc.

I am happy to send the letter to people in other schemes.

This is not an exclusive Montpelier gig.

After all, we are all in exactly the same boat!

[BolshieBastard]

I have this morning recieved the following and thought I should put it out there as it will proably effect some of you :-

Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines as thousands of photo card driving licences expire.

Thousands of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.

They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photo card licence which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70.

The fiasco has come to light a decade after the first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998, just as the they start to expire.

Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life.

A mock-up driving licence from 1998 when the photo cards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b'

They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and have to be renewed.

To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to a pay £17.50 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years.

Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.

With another 300,000 photo card licences due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine.

At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the paper version.


Just below the driver name on the front of the photo card licence is a series of dates and details - each one numbered.

Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means.

The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to'.

Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence - that is until his or her 70th birthday.

A total of 25million new-style licences have been issued but - motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years.

Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving. But the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.

AA president, Edmund King said: 'It is not generally known that photo card licences expire: there appears to be a lack of information that people will have to renew these licences.

'People think they have already paid them for once over and that is it.

'It will come as a surprise to motorists and a shock that they have to pay an extra £17.50.'

The AA called on the Government to use the annual £450million from traffic enforcement fines to offset the renewal charge.

Sorry but it was known at the time they were introduced that they were renewable and would have a cost.

This is why I still have my original paper license.

[SantaClaus]

Sorry but it was known at the time they were introduced that they were renewable and would have a cost.

This is why I still have my original paper license.

Can we consign this to the general thread please. Nothing to do with BN66.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Politicians Most Wanted

The following Conservative MPs will already be receiving multiple letters:

Ian Taylor - Esher & Walton (2)
John Redwood - Wokingham (3)
David Cameron - Witney (2)

If they could get a couple more letters then it might start alarm bells ringing.

To find out more about Section 58, all they would need to do is talk to one of their colleagues on the Committee, especially David Gauke.

Committee Members

† Blizzard, Mr. Bob (Waveney) (Lab)
† Bone, Mr. Peter (Wellingborough) (Con)
† Breed, Mr. Colin (South-East Cornwall) (LD)
† Eagle, Angela (Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury)
† Efford, Clive (Eltham) (Lab)
† Field, Mr. Mark (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con)
† Gauke, Mr. David (South-West Hertfordshire) (Con)
† Greening, Justine (Putney) (Con)
† Hall, Patrick (Bedford) (Lab)
† Hammond, Mr. Philip (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)
† Hoban, Mr. Mark (Fareham) (Con)
† Joyce, Mr. Eric (Falkirk) (Lab)
† Kennedy, Jane (Financial Secretary to the Treasury)
† Morden, Jessica (Newport, East) (Lab)
† Palmer, Dr. Nick (Broxtowe) (Lab)
† Pound, Stephen (Ealing, North) (Lab)
† Pugh, Dr. John (Southport) (LD)
† Simon, Mr. Siôn (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)
† Thornberry, Emily (Islington, South and Finsbury) (Lab)
† Todd, Mr. Mark (South Derbyshire) (Lab)
† Ussher, Kitty (Economic Secretary to the Treasury)
† Wright, David (Telford) (Lab)

[BrilloPad]

† Efford, Clive (Eltham) (Lab)

That is interesting : Clive is my MP. I sent him the letter this morning.

I sent a letter at some point in spring/summer 2008 : I just found his reply dated 4th September. Apart from niciies it says :-

"I have enclosed the Hansard for the debate on the clause relating to doubl taxationwhich I think demonstrates it was concluded to your satidfaction. As you can see a probing amendment was put down to seek clarification from the minister over the government's intention on this clause."

Anyway, when I get a reply to the letter I sent today I will let you know.

BP

[deckster]

The following Conservative MPs will already be receiving multiple letters:

John Redwood - Wokingham (3)

Make that 4.

We should meet up in the Broad St Tavern to drown our sorrows some day

[shrek]

Thanks for de-lurking

Do you ever want to come back to UK?

Its obviously harder for HMRC to get to people outside the EU. I heard they have an office in Sydney for chasing expats : but not sure if that is true.

I should warn anyone on here who posts here about moving abroad that HMRC can issue jeopardy notices : I believe this freezes your assets. AFAIK the only one on here whom HMRC know the identity of is me. Not sure if admin could be ordered to reveal email addresses/ip addresses or if they would do so if requested (I suspect they would).

Anyone thinking of it should be careful what they say about it....

Hi there - I dont plan on coming back at any time in the near future, but obviously keen to keep my name in the clear if I ever do decide to come back.

[Toocan]

"I have enclosed the Hansard for the debate on the clause relating to doubl taxationwhich I think demonstrates it was concluded to your satidfaction. As you can see a probing amendment was put down to seek clarification from the minister over the government's intention on this clause."
BP

Was more information provided?

[BrilloPad]

Was more information provided?

There was a copy of the debate attached. Apart from that is was just nicities. "I hope this answers your question" etcetc.

I sent the letter yesterday : and I will post any reply on forum. We can then all compose a reply together as I am rubbish at writing to MPs : but we seem to be blessed with a few who are very good at it.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Can't vote in the Poll?

Send me a PM or email me at address below, and I will arrange for your account to be upgraded.

To reduce the burden on the Administrator, I will wait until I've collected a few names before passing them on.

I will PM you when your account has been upgraded.