Car Tax - Can you get fined?

[siws1]

I got my car taxed a week before it was due to expire. Remembering that you can't put the new disc on the car until the old one has expired, I left it in the glovebox. The great day arrives and I completeley forgot to affix it on the windscreen. So I am taxed, but I have the wrong disc showing on the car. I noticed this morning that I hadn't fitted the disc and have now put the new one on. My question is this. As I had paid for the tax disc and the DVLA know all about it, could I have still been fined for not displaying it.

[Ethel]

Yes - failure to display is a separate offence, probably to discourage switching one tax disc between vehicles.

�30 fixed penaly is the usual fine.

[almcd007]

Technically yes - but if you were stopped by the police for some reason and you realised and showed them the tax - I doubt whether they would prosecute you for an honest mistake.

However if you had parked it somewhere and been ticketed - that's another matter - you almost definately would have to pay the fine.

[siws1]

If I had been ticketed, would it be on my windscreen or do I wait for the plop of the letter through the door over the next few weeks?

[almcd007]

You would have seen it on the windscreen.

[Marvelman]

You can display a new car tax disc 2 weeks before the old one expires.

[Ethel]

No you can't, Marvelman

You can apply to tax your vehicle from the fifteenth day of the month in which the existing vehicle tax is due to expire. The tax disc will come into force on the first day of the following month and should not be displayed on your vehicle until then.

http://direct.gov.uk/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/H owToTaxYourVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicleArticles /fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4022051&chk=Q8loLj

[ugly_bob]

I had a note on my car a few years back from the police about failure to display a tax disc. It had fallen off my windscreen and was in the passenger footwell. Whether they had checked to see if the car was taxed or not I don't know (it was about 10 yeasr ago and I'm not sure how automated the systems were then).
That's all it was though. A note - no fine or anything - from the local bobby on the beat.

[DGR]

It never occurred to me that I should not change the old disc for the new one until the first of the month. Too easy to forget as siws1 did. Perhaps in future I will put the new disc in the holder and temporarily tape the old disc alongside it.

[Mrs_Pegasus]

Many years ago I was stopped for speeding. Not only was I doing 17 mph over the limit, the copper kindly pointed out I had an out of date tax disc. Me being very young and quite dumb, argued with the copper that it was in date. I reached over, took it out of the windscreen and noticed it was well over 1 month out of date. I then remembered I had popped into the glove compartment so I retrieved it and popped it into the holder and popped it back into the window! The copper then read me the riot act and told me he could still legally prosecute me for failing to display a valid tax disc.

However, he loved the car and was asking me loads of questions and then gave me directions to the supermarket I was trying to find and I drove off without a ticket for speeding or the tax disc!

[katangel26]

Well I've learn't something new tonight, I've always displayed my new tax disc as soon as I've got it (I've never been stopped as a result). The police know if the vehicles taxed previously or not so why on earth would they stop you if it was in early?? Even if they did they'd only tell you not to display it so early next time. Sounds like a waste of time to me.