Foreign-registered
vehicles being used illegally on Britain’s roads are now being seized
by some police forces using powers devolved to them by DVLA.
This
has resulted from growing concerns about the number of foreign registered
vehicles staying longer than the 6 month period allowed for temporary visitors
to the UK.
DVLA, Department for Transport (DfT), Association of Chief
Police Officers (ACPO), Motor Insurance Bureau, UK Border Force & Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have been working together to gauge the scale of the
problem and put together more efficient intelligence & enforcement processes.
This led to a ‘hot list’ of overstaying foreign registered vehicles being
passed to the police.
A
pilot exercise with 4 police forces started in April 2014 & resulted in 123
foreign registered vehicles being seized and impounded over 6 weeks. Because of
the positive feedback from the police forces involved, this information is now
regularly provided to police forces for use on their Automatic Number Plate
Recognition (ANPR) cameras – including Thames
Valley, Hampshire, West Midlands,
Northamptonshire, West Mercia and Staffordshire
Police.
Any
vehicle overstaying the period is impounded.
The keeper can retrieve their vehicle by paying the release fee and
surety payment (around £260) but cannot use the vehicle on the road until it is
correctly registered
and licensed in the UK. The only exemption is if the vehicle is being
driven to a pre booked MOT appointment or any other testing appointment.
The
keeper has 56 days to reclaim the surety payment once the vehicle is licensed.
DVLA will also issue the vehicle keeper an out of court settlement. The amount
will be £30 plus 1.5 times the outstanding vehicle tax rate for the time the
vehicle has overstayed. Failure to pay could result in the keeper being
prosecuted.
Highlights of the crack down include:
- over 1100 vehicles have been seized since DVLA changed its enforcement process
- over 2500 offence reports have been sent to DVLA by the police
- over 1300 out of court settlement letters have been issued to foreign vehicle keepers who have not complied
- DVLA has successfully prosecuted 120 offenders
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