Untaxed, abandoned cars take up valuable parking spaces, spoil neighbourhoods and often pose a safety risk for drivers and pedestrians. Here’s how to ensure they’re legitimately removed from the road.
Need to report an untaxed vehicle? Here’s how to call the clampers: Image credit
There’s no need to suffer in silence as untaxed motors blight your local streets, new online tools will help ensure vehicles without tax are removed and even crushed.
These tools will also ensure that only genuine offenders are targeted – with easy, free access available for residents to check the VED status of cars left on their street. Here’s all you need to know.
It’s not illegal to park a car outside someone’s house, so just because it’s in your ‘usual’ parking space for an extended period, it doesn’t mean an ‘offence’ has been committed. However, you can easily log on to the Gov.UK road tax site to see if it’s legal. To do this, you will need to take a note of the car’s registration, make, model and colour. Then click below to check its status.
Click here to check if the car is taxed
If the car is untaxed, you will be within your rights to move on to the next stage and report it to the authorities. If the vehicle is covered by SORN (Standard Off Road Notice), this means it should not be on the public highway and can be reported. If it’s on a driveway or other private land, you will not be able to report it as ‘untaxed’ – even if it’s your land the vehicle is on. Scroll down to see how you must deal with ‘abandoned vehicles’.
When you report the vehicle, you will need this information to hand:
Vehicle registration number
Make, model and colour of the vehicle
Street name, town and postcode where the vehicle is parked
If the vehicle comes and goes, you will need to add the usual times it’s parked
Without these details, you will not be able to report the vehicle.
Now that you have proof the vehicle is taxed and have all the other information to hand, you can report the vehicle by clicking below.
Click here to report a vehicle is untaxed
Don’t expect it to be instantly scooped up and taken away, in many cases the vehicle will be clamped and a notice attached to it. If nothing happens after a set period of time, it’s likely the vehicle will be removed and possibly scrapped.
Find out if a car has been abandoned and how to report it here.