M50 toll cameras and motor tax

JMSE

Sorry if this is constantly coming up but I've searched and all info dates back to Feb/Mar 2013 on this topic.

Last Feb the Gardai announced they were planning on using the m50 toll cameras to detect vehicles evading paying motor tax. Did this ever come into effect or is still just a 'plan'.

Reason I ask is this, I have a car on my drive since 2012, not tax nor NCTd and not driven since 2012. I love the car but cant get it to run right, its old so its not loosing me any money in depreciation. Last week 2 friends of a friend arrived to see could they get it to run properly, and after an hour they told my other half that they were taking it to their garage. She couldnt get me on the phone and in the end just let them take it, not knowing much about how they would actually do that.

Later that day when I rang to see had they actually driven it on the road, they had :mad: . The trip was a northside dublin to naas road trip, and when I asked if they had been on the m50, the answer was yes and we used the toll bridge :mad: .

I know this means theres a toll to be paid and I paid it, and that now theres motor tax implications for me. Question is, are those cameras being used by the Gardai or not. This car might never get back on the road again so I dont fancy paying 3 months tax plus 1 mths arrears even though I know I'm obliged to.

antodeco

Did you actually know the guys personally who borrowed it?

CiniO

antodeco wrote: »

Did you actually know the guys personally who borrowed it?

What difference does it make?

antodeco

CiniO wrote: »

What difference does it make?

If someone was borrowing my car, I'd want to know who they were, as there could be multiple speeding tickets on the way!

JMSE

Thats possible, theres a lot that could have gone wrong. It wasnt a wise thing to do, I have the car back as I went and took it back without putting it on the road. The toll camera thing is the question for this thread.

Scortho

JMSE wrote: »

Thats possible, theres a lot that could have gone wrong. It wasnt a wise thing to do, I have the car back as I went and took it back without putting it on the road. The toll camera thing is the question for this thread.

As far as I know there are issues with using the toll figures by the gardai under data protection laws.
I may be wrong however.

Also if it was as easy to find motor tax dodgers (you're not), then the gardai would just use the toll data, to issue penalties.
It might be a good idea to get the car sorned by the end of the month.

djimi

Ill put it this way, by declaring the car off the road you are signing a legal declaration, witnessed by a Garda, to state that the car was not in use on a public road in the time frame specified. If you have driven through a toll booth in that time then there is evidence in a database that you have committed fraud by signing a false declaration. Whether or not the Gardai will gain access to that database is debatable, but its up to you if you want to take the risk!

Are these guys associated with a registered garage? Im not sure about this but I have it in my head that a mechanic can drive a car untaxed while working on it (if that makes sense); Im not sure how true that is though, I may have imagined it or gotten it arseways!

darragh o meara

djimi wrote: »

Are these guys associated with a registered garage? Im not sure about this but I have it in my head that a mechanic can drive a car untaxed while working on it (if that makes sense); Im not sure how true that is though, I may have imagined it or gotten it arseways!

Only if they have trade plates displayed.

visual

All the ANPR cameras filled on major roads and motorways have the capability
My understanding is that permission was not granted.

There was a mention sometime back that they could use the camera system to track and monitor journey time by readind car reg plate as it traveled by these cameras. On RTE news they made a point of saying the full reg number wasn't stored so I have to take it that permission wasn't granted to track owners and their cars.

Technically all that is needed for these cameras to be used as speed cameras is permission.
To be used to detect NCT and tax it would need to be linked to motor tax data base and of course permission.

ANPR cameras aren't cheap and the back end technolgy even more so. Sooner or later someone will want a return on this investment.

So far the system is pretty much idle.

The M50 cameras at toll are only used for toll charges. But as they are charging the public records are kept. I don't think the garda use these records checking for tax compliance.
But im sure if they where investigating serious crime they could and would request infornation on a suspect car.

Top Dog

Based on personal experience I'm going to say no - the Gardai aren't using them to detect vehicles without motor tax.

It may yet come in at some point no doubt, but its not currently active.