Driving in the UK

bugboots

I am moving to the uk in the new year for 3 months and my car tax runs out in January. I wasn't going to tax it as i wont be driving it on irish roads but am intrested to know if the uk police can do me for no tax when i am driving the car over there.

steveod

I'm from the UK and I had the same concern when I moved over here. You might get a fine, but I doubt even that would happen.

I regularly drive back home and, whilst my tax is up to date, and as long as I'm not acting the maggot, police will leave me alone.

The thing is there is no way that any policeman will a) pull you over becasue your tax is out of date (he has no way of knowing that it is when your car is moving) and b) if he sees you car parked and saw that it was, there's no way on earth he would wait around for you to turn up to provide an explanation; he's got better things to do than enforce Irish Traffic law.

The other thing is you only get road blocks in the UK if they're looking for someone specific so you don't need to worry about these either. They use license reconition systems these days so they can scan car number plates from the comfort of the front seat. These number plates are referenced against the DVLA database which knows if a UK registered car has its MOT (NCT), insurance and tax.

If you have a foreign reg car, you're not on the database so as long as you're not driving on two wheels, they'll leave you alone.

You can drive around in the UK 'under the radar' for ages with Irish plates.

My favorite thing is setting off speed cameras (although not too many; they go through to a database as well so they don't want to see your reg popping up all the time). You'll only get a fine speeding if you get pulled over by a copper, but not if you get flashed by a camera: uneconomical to pursue.

You can also ignore parking tickets. Parking tickets are issues by local town councils and do not pursue parking tickets for foreign reg cars; again uneconomical to pursue (I used to work for a town council)

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. Just don't draw attention to yourself.

Besides, it's not the Police who are interested in you, it's Customs & Excise.

steveod

Won't you get a fine for late payment of your tax when you get back to Ireland?

Make sure you tell the (Irish) Revenue you're taking it off the road in January (which is technically correct from the perspective of Irish Roads)

bugboots

I'm not to sure. If the car is not seen over here then i'll just go into the garda and get the form signed to say car has been off the road.

slimjimmc

steveod wrote: »

Won't you get a fine for late payment of your tax when you get back to Ireland?

Make sure you tell the (Irish) Revenue you're taking it off the road in January (which is technically correct from the perspective of Irish Roads)

You won't get a fine for late payment per sé, but you may get a fine for driving without tax or non-display of a valid tax disc if you are stopped on your way home from the ferry port.

It is not possible to declare your car will be off the road. It's a retrospective declaration that your car was not used in the past so he can only make such a declaration on his return.

steveod

No, you'll definately need to tell them up front that the car is off the road, otherwise we'd all be not paying our road tax for 6 months and telling the Revenue our cars were off the road when we decided to pay it again.

I have a car off the road at the moment and all I had to do was write on the road tax return "OFF THE ROAD" and send it back to Shannon.

I've been fined for late payment of tax here before as well. I basically had back pay for two months I'd missed plus a premuim for late payment.

Make sure you tell the tax office your car is going to be off the road for three months and then notify them when your back, otherwise the money you've tried save will end up costing you more.

MagicSean

The UK police have much more powers than we do. If you are a foreign driver I think they can demand the fine be payed on the spot or they can take your car.

MagicSean

steveod wrote: »

No, you'll definately need to tell them up front that the car is off the road, otherwise we'd all be not paying our road tax for 6 months and telling the Revenue our cars were off the road when we decided to pay it again.

I have a car off the road at the moment and all I had to do was write on the road tax return "OFF THE ROAD" and send it back to Shannon.

I've been fined for late payment of tax here before as well. I basically had back pay for two months I'd missed plus a premuim for late payment.

Make sure you tell the tax office your car is going to be off the road for three months and then notify them when your back, otherwise the money you've tried save will end up costing you more.

The Irish system does not work like that.

Our man in Havana

MagicSean wrote: »

The UK police have much more powers than we do. If you are a foreign driver I think they can demand the fine be payed on the spot or they can take your car.

The police have but councils do not.

Marcusm

Remember that to drive in another EU country your cast must be fully "qualified" under your home country rules and that you must at all times carry original certificates of registration and insurance and your full driving licence. I seem to recall that it is unclear whether home country motor tax is required. However, guven the possibility and propensity for seizure of the vehicle, I would ensure that I had valid motor tax at all times even when on the roads in other countries. Don't give the authorities any excuse, I say.

I have taken the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin and back 6 times since July (12 trips in total). I have been stopped in Holyhead on 5 occasions, once by port security, twice by Gwynnedd Police and twice by UKBA/police.