Thousands of Scottish road tax dodgers are set to be targeted as a major clampdown which could lead to their cars being crushed spreads north of the Border.

Motorists without a tax disc will have their wheels clamped by a special patrol team, and the schemes organisers have warned that owners who fail to pay the hefty reclaim fees could find their cars sent to the crusher.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is extending a national scheme aimed at catching road tax cheats and clawing back millions of pounds lost every year through tax evasion.

A major publicity campaign is to be launched today to encourage drivers to check their tax discs and to warn dodgers about the clampers who will be on the streets from June 22.

According to the DVLA, there are 116,000 unlicensed vehicles on Scotland's roads, and the country loses #13.3m in road tax revenue each year.

Roads Minister Baroness Hayman said: ''Being caught in this clampdown will certainly hit the pockets of road tax dodgers much harder than the cost of a vehicle excise licence.

''We are out to deter the evader with the threat of inconvenience, large fines and prosecution.

''We will not be penalising those whose tax disc has fallen off their windscreen or are a few days late renewing their tax.''

Contract clamping teams will patrol the streets and, with authorisation from the DVLA, clamp untaxed vehicles.

Motorists will have to pay #68 to have the clamp removed and a valid tax disc must be shown to recover the vehicle.

Those not claimed within 24 hours will be towed away and impounded with the release fee increased to #135 plus storage charges. Any vehicles not claimed within five weeks will be crushed or sold at auction, and the owners will face prosecution.

Mr Haydn Madoc, head of enforcement for DVLA, added: ''If a clamped unlicensed vehicle is left in a pound for five weeks it will cost more than #600 to have it released.''

The National Wheelclamping Scheme was launched in August last year, and is already in operation in Greater London, the North West, Yorkshire, Northern Ireland, Wales, the South West and the Midlands.

Motoring organisations are backing the scheme, and Chief Superintendent Jim Gilmour of Strathclyde Police, whose area has 45,000 unlicensed vehicles and loses #5.3m each year, said: ''We acknowledge and recognise the need for the DVLA to pursue those who persistently evade their road tax.''