What DVLA has been doing to clamp down on vehicle tax evasion

Since the start of 2019, DVLA wheelclamping teams have been busy up and down the country targeting untaxed vehicles. Bethan Beasley, DVLA’s Senior Leader of Enforcement Partnerships, tells us more.

It’s been a very busy start to the year for all of us on the DVLA enforcement team. We’ve been all across the country in various locations looking for vehicles that haven’t been taxed – and we are not done yet.

Why we’re doing it

It’s all part of a wider campaign targeting the 11 locations of the UK where vehicle tax evasion is highest. In 2018, we took enforcement action – ranging from fines to clamping – on over 464,000 vehicles in these areas.

As well as the hard work we’re doing out on the roads every day, we’re running local advertising in each of the regions including radio, printed publications, poster sites, websites and on social media. All of these activities together are designed to make the driving public think again if they’re considering not taxing their vehicle.

There really is no excuse not to tax. It’s never been easier for motorists – on GOV.UK you can tax your vehicle 24 hours a day and if you are not sure when your tax is due, you can check your vehicle tax is up to date. You can even check on Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home if you want. All you need is your vehicle registration.

Driving the message home

One of our highlights of the campaign has been taking our giant clamp to some of the locations and putting it in city or town centres to see what reaction it gets from the general public. A stark physical image like this has really attracted people’s attention and made them think, as you can see from this video of our giant clamp:

Other comments we received from the public after seeing the giant clamp included:

“A lot of people are reluctant to do their car tax because they think it’s difficult – this campaign will show them how easy it is.”

“Pay your tax – it’s as simple as that. There’s no excuse is there, really.”

What’s next

We’ve clamped nearly 9,000 vehicles so far during this campaign, but we’re not stopping there. Our enforcement teams work across the country on the look-out for untaxed vehicles, and our message is the same wherever we go: tax it or lose it.