The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) abandons proposals to chip motorcycle number plates.
The DVLA have announced that they will not be seeking government approval to fit micro chip Electronic Vehicle Identification, (EVI) to motorcycle number plates. The DVLA had embarked on a feasibility study, including field trials, to determine the effectiveness of EVI as a means of combating motorcycle vehicle excise evasion.
The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG UK) was consulted on the project and voiced concerns that the cost to introduce such a system would far outweigh the monies recouped in excise duty. MAG also expressed concern that the proposal to single out motorcycles was discriminatory.
In a report released by the DVLA today the conclusion to the study is that the cost of introducing EVI for all motorcycles would cost in the region of ñ00 million and would only provide a return of approximately ò7 million for HM treasury. The report concludes that advances in ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) technology render the use of EVI unnecessary.
The report comes days after the DVLA issued an apology for wrongly estimating the level of motorcycle VED evasion at 40%, a gross overestimation of the actual rate which is 6%.
MAG Campaigns Manager said, ԉ am pleased that common sense has prevailed and that the DVLA has listened to and acted on motorcyclists concerns. EVI was a sledgehammer to crack a nut and the proposals to only include motorcyclists is discriminatory. MAG does not in any way condone motorcyclists who choose to ride their bikes without tax and will continue to work with motorcyclists, government, the police and the DVLA to eradicate VED evasion.
For further information or comment contact:
David Short
Email campaigns-manager@mag-uk.org
The UK's Leading Riders' Rights Organisation
www.mag-uk.org
Showing posts with label tax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tax. Show all posts
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
A Poor Workman always blames his tools
I have always been into tools to aid navigation, ever since as a Cub I was first shown how to use a Silva Explorer compass and an Ordnance Survey map. I advanced from merely finding a grid reference, to plotting position and then using profiles from contour lines alongside Naismith's Rule to calculate distance and time taken to complete a route.
Then the satellites went into orbit, and Global Positioning by Satellite (GPS) was born. Since the 2nd of May 2000 civillian users have had access to the same signal as the military and access to a wonderful new navigation tool. The GPS reciever , known as the GPSr.
For a long time it was the preserve of the hobbyist and people who needed fast accurate positioning data without complicated calculations, like seafarers and pilots. It became the must have for anyone going into the outdoors, even if it was just a simple "here you are " tool to be used alongside a map.
The cost was high, as with any new tech, then with all the other advances in computer chip technology the prices came down. At this point approximately 3 years ago we entered the world of SatNav! The real enthusiasts tool had become a new consumer toy. But worryingly it had also still retained the sophisticated elements of the first GPSr navigation tools.
Many people rushed out and bought the new toy declaring maps to be redundant. This marvellous new box will show me the quickest most efficient way of getting anywhere with a postcode! Wrong ! The simple element of RTFM had been lost on these new digital pioneers, it was a shiny new toy that told them how not to get lost.
Like any new technology you get what you pay for, a lot of the new mapping GPSr used old data to keep cost down. Roads had been built and in some cases entire towns several years after the data was compiled. Options on the GPSr allowed fine tuning of routing, but this was lost on the majority of the new pioneers girding their loins for an new quicker way to go see Aunt Mabel in Staines.
Reports started fl0oding in of people getting jammed on farm tracks,driving into rivers and lorrys stuck on country lanes ! RTFM numpties!
The cost of stupidity should be taxed at source for anyone using a tool that cannot use it correctly. Network Rail have announced the over 2,000 bridges have been damaged this year by lorrys taking inappropriate routes; people crashing into fences and crossing rail lines in the wrong places have added to the millions of pounds of damage!
I am now of the opinion that unless you can read a map you should not buy a GPSr. Look at the map, choose your route then program this into the GPSr or at least ensure it does not have options chosen to take you down country lanes and under low bridges. It should be included in the Highway Code and as part of the Driving Test.
Is it just too much to ask for people to use Common Sense... sadly it seems it is!
Then the satellites went into orbit, and Global Positioning by Satellite (GPS) was born. Since the 2nd of May 2000 civillian users have had access to the same signal as the military and access to a wonderful new navigation tool. The GPS reciever , known as the GPSr.
For a long time it was the preserve of the hobbyist and people who needed fast accurate positioning data without complicated calculations, like seafarers and pilots. It became the must have for anyone going into the outdoors, even if it was just a simple "here you are " tool to be used alongside a map.
The cost was high, as with any new tech, then with all the other advances in computer chip technology the prices came down. At this point approximately 3 years ago we entered the world of SatNav! The real enthusiasts tool had become a new consumer toy. But worryingly it had also still retained the sophisticated elements of the first GPSr navigation tools.
Many people rushed out and bought the new toy declaring maps to be redundant. This marvellous new box will show me the quickest most efficient way of getting anywhere with a postcode! Wrong ! The simple element of RTFM had been lost on these new digital pioneers, it was a shiny new toy that told them how not to get lost.
Like any new technology you get what you pay for, a lot of the new mapping GPSr used old data to keep cost down. Roads had been built and in some cases entire towns several years after the data was compiled. Options on the GPSr allowed fine tuning of routing, but this was lost on the majority of the new pioneers girding their loins for an new quicker way to go see Aunt Mabel in Staines.
Reports started fl0oding in of people getting jammed on farm tracks,driving into rivers and lorrys stuck on country lanes ! RTFM numpties!
The cost of stupidity should be taxed at source for anyone using a tool that cannot use it correctly. Network Rail have announced the over 2,000 bridges have been damaged this year by lorrys taking inappropriate routes; people crashing into fences and crossing rail lines in the wrong places have added to the millions of pounds of damage!
I am now of the opinion that unless you can read a map you should not buy a GPSr. Look at the map, choose your route then program this into the GPSr or at least ensure it does not have options chosen to take you down country lanes and under low bridges. It should be included in the Highway Code and as part of the Driving Test.
Is it just too much to ask for people to use Common Sense... sadly it seems it is!
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Motorcycle Tax Evasion - Its Not Right
The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG
Unfortunately the media has jumped on this unreliable and suspect headline figure to brand motorcyclists as law breakers.
The report, from the House of Commons, Committee of Public Accounts, itself acknowledges that the methodology used to capture the data is suspect.
A recent series of expensive TV adverts advised us that the DVLA do not have to look on the road or in garages but simply at computer screens in order to identify tax evaders.
If this is the case then let them get on with it and fine all these defaulters. If it is not the case and the DVLA were completely wrong then it begs the question – are they wrong about the level of evasion?
MAG makes no apologies for those who fail to tax vehicles and will happily work with the DVLA to enable them to make an accurate assessment of evasion rates.
MAG recognises however that for all road users road tax has lost its credibility. When it was used to improve roads motorists could see the benefit. However, when it just disappears into the black hole of the treasury, people become sceptical and the whole system loses credibility.
The whole system needs reviewing.
Notes
1. Download the committee report http://www.network.mag-uk.org/documents/080122%20Vehicle%20Excise.pdf
2. For further information contact:
David Short
Tel: +44 (0) 1347 82221
Mobile: +44 (0) 77389 48080
E-mail: campaigns-manager@mag-uk.org
The UK's Leading Riders' Rights Organisation
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