went on line to tax my bike from the 1st April its now the 27th March only option they give is to tax this from the 1st March bunch of theiving ******* I'll tax it on sunday then
If it's already taxed ( i.e current tax ends on 31st March ) it would be possible to tax it from 1st April. I presume your bike is not currently taxed - in which case it is not possible to tax it in advance as ( looking at it from their point of view ) they could send you a tax disc that you could put on the bike straight away and use it even though you have not paid for this month, only next month. By the way - it's only the 27th today...
Regardless they are selling 6 months ro 12 monmths worth of road tax, not 5 months and 4 days or 11 months and 4 days and it takes them up to 5 days to post it out Which ever way you look at it you are being shortchanged
Er... No. If you pay for your tax on April 1st, it runs out on 31st March 2013 - that's 365 days. The system only allows the tax to run out on the last day of the relevant month so yes, technically, you could end up paying for less than a year - if you're that worried about it pay it on the first of the month. Or tax it again before your current tax runs out - that way you get 365 days for your money. I'm not a big fan of the system myself - but altering the system so that each tax-disc runs out exactly 365 days after it was issued would make the system a lot more complicated and therefore more expensive...
they have had systems running on a proper 6 or 12 month basis in many other countries for many years and its not the computer systems that prevent this from happening, its central government shortchanging the public
If you were to go by letter of law then after you got your tax disc and paid for it lets say from 1st you still can not use your bike till it arrives. It's all about shafting.
I did not say, or mean, the computer system. The way the system for the issue tax discs works in this country is the way it has been for decades... If you want a full 6 or 12 months for your money, then tax your bike on the first day of the month - it's not exactly "rocket science". To be honest - if waiting a couple of days for your tax disc to turn up is the most important thing that you have to worry about then you must have a pretty stress-free life
You could pay for it at the Post Office and get the disc there and then - but the same rules apply...
Now the system is completely computerised, a change to an actual day instead of month would be much more feasible to introduce. Useful for vehicles only used 6 months of the year (bikes, camper vans, enthusiasts, kit cars, etc). And why stop at 6 months. By as months many online as you need. Though this does mean the civil service would have to be proavtive and useful. Maybe they should have a public enquiry or peer review for a couple of years to debate it. Probably in Jamaica. Whoops nearly fell off my soap box. Lets face it, you don't even get a proper MOT cert now as its all online. Police don't seem to check for tax discs now. Their camera systems are checking number plates automatically all the time. By the time Mr Plod walks to the side of your bike to 'have a little word', he already knows if its MOT'd and Taxed.
I always tax my bikes for the whole year, eliminates the need to worry about SORN, renewal etc... Except 2 years ago when I didn't receive the reminder and because the bike was in the workshop in pieces I forgot to renew the tax. When I got the bike ready to ride I realised that the tax had expired so immediately bought tax online only to receive a snotty email by return saying that I had committed an offence and that their 'compliance' team would be contacting me, sure enough I got an £80 fine through the post a few days later, despite having paid the tax from the start of the correct month - now that is Rob Doggery...
OK, enough already ! Is it an old fashioned system ? Yes... Is it all a massive government conspiricy to stop people using the roads ? No, of course it's not ! There are far more important t5hings to be concerned about - like the next round of changes to the motorcycle licencing and test procedures...
where they introduced car registration stickers stuck to the outside of windscreens to facilitate people stealing them and then they over compensated by introducing bar codes on the rego stickers that the speed cameras could read[/QUOTE] ??? Aaaahhhh no! Labels on the inside, bar code is very small, doubt it could be read at 5mph let alone 50mph.
??? Aaaahhhh no! Labels on the inside,.[/QUOTE] they are now where were you in the early 90's when this outside lable fiasco was introduced??????
What I do find quite odd is that I can check on-line ( even from my mobile phone ) to see if my vehicles have insurance and an MoT, but the Post Office can't and have to rely on the original documents. Another example of chronic under-investment in Post Offices ?
Yeah I always wondered why you still have to take your documents to the post office these days. I was in the same situation and phoned the DVLA the day before trying to tax mine and she told me I would have to wait until midnight before it would change to the 1st of April but you can use your bike from the day the tax starts as you get 5 days grace until the disc arrives at your house.
"but you can use your bike from the day the tax starts as you get 5 days grace until the disc arrives at your house" Technically you can't... Even though the vehicle is actually taxed you would be commiting an offence by not displaying a tax disc. Whether the police would actually take action is debatable, but the offence remains...
or you could do what i did take the bike out on sunday when the tax ran out on saturday oops totaly forgot to tax it braking the law ohh yeah
