Motoring

[mollymalloy]

Can someone please tell me why we have to pay road tax, MOT and Insurance on our cars in the UK, when East Europeans come here to live and pay NOTHING? Many thanks.

[boxtops]

Molly, if they do, they are breaking the law. Anyone driving in this country has to tax and insure their car, and they can only drive on a foreign numberplate for a fixed time if they are resident in this country. Why pick just on the Eastern Europeans, too?

[RATTER15]

molly, where did you hear that? they have to abide by the same rules and laws as the rest of us.

[jake-the-peg]

Motoring's an area the EU still hasn't gotten evened out across the board yet.

Any car has to be insured Eastern European included.

Vehicle licence duty is a matter for the country where the vehicle is registered although if the car is here for a certain period (six months?) it's meant to be imported and registered here at which point it would have to have a tax disk - ditto for MOT.


What you might well also ask is why someone with a French driving license speeding here can't have points added.

To change this we'd need a centralised European version of the DVLA - UKIP members would all have fits on the spot

So a win win situation I'd say!

[mollymalloy]

Hello boxtops, Because where I live in Edgware, Middlesex, (London Borough of Brent) there is the highest number of Romanians in the country living here, and all the cars have RO on the number plates and no tax discs. We have a lodging house in our Close, all Romanians, with RO plated cars in the drive. I have nothing against these people AT ALL because they WORK. It just seems unfair to me that WE UK citizens have to pay car tax, MOT & Insurance, and they don't. I love living in this area where the whites are in the minority, I just get on with it and have never been happier since I retired 2 years ago.

[boxtops]

Molly, they will have to pay tax etc in due course - as said above, they can use their EU number plates for a limited period of time only, then they must comply (and if they don't, report them). We have Czech people in our road, they could only keep their Cz number plate for a matter of months. They DO have to pay, so does anyone from other parts of the EU - it's only for a short space of time that they are legal on their old plates.

[johnny37]

I suggest you report them to the police. No reason why they should not a be ticketed. Might be difficult to track them if their cars have not been registered. Would need a police raid I would think.

[Just-Jude]

Eastern Europeans have a special EU dispensation as they can't afford UK running costs. You will find it in one of the treaties somewhere.

[mollymalloy]

Just-Jude - It is beyond comprehension that Eastern Europeans are allowed to drive on our roads in untaxed, Mot's or Insured vehicles because of an EU dispensation allowing them to drive free of charge because they can't afford to pay, when WE have to pay. It is ALL WRONG. Most of them are working and earning good money so CAN afford to pay. Can feel my blood pressure rising........

[SpikeyBush]

When I emigrated in 2000 I took my car with me to Ireland. The law stated that I had to register it within seven days of arrival but as the emerald isle is so laid back this wasn't enforced and I was here four months before registering it, and only then because my UK insurance was about to run out and I needed an Irish registration to insure it locally.

[bednobs]

i have a little feeling tat just jude is joking you