MOTORISTS in the Scottish capital are to be targeted by teams of wheel clampers in a crackdown on untaxed vehicles.
Edinburgh has been identified by the DVLA as a UK hotspot for cars not having road tax. Around 2,400 vehicles in the city were clamped last year.
For three days from tomorrow, mobile teams working for the DVLA and armed with wheel clamps will tour the city’s streets in search of vehicle tax dodgers.
They will use number-plate recognition cameras linked to DVLA computer systems to instantly check if a vehicle is on the road without tax. Once confirmed, they can have a vehicle clamped within minutes.
Motorists face a £100 release fee to have the clamp removed. However, if it is not paid within 24 hours the DVLA impounds the vehicle and the release fee rises to £200, plus £21 per day storage charge.
Vehicle owners will also have to pay a surety fee of £160 which is refunded if they can show within 15 days that the vehicle has been taxed.
It means drivers who have either forgotten to renew their tax or deliberately avoided it, face having to find at least £260 just to get their car back.
The crackdown is in addition to the normal road tax checks which are carried out throughout the year across the UK. As well as targeting vehicles on the roads, the teams will be checking vehicles that are in off-road parking areas.
Bethan Beasley, national wheel-clamping manager at the DVLA, said: “We write to the keepers of all vehicles to remind them when their tax is due. That’s why it’s so important to let DVLA know if you’ve changed your address.
“We don’t need to spot a vehicle on the road to take enforcement action but if we do, wheel clamping is an effective way to make sure that an untaxed vehicle is not driven on the road.”
The paper tax disc system was scrapped in 2014, raising fears that motorists could easily forget to pay road tax or miss email reminders.
The clampdown comes as the DVLA launches a new ‘Tax it or lose it’ television, radio and online campaign aimed at car tax dodgers.
Ms Beasley added: “It’s never been easier to tax your car, so there really is no excuse. We would rather not have to clamp or remove vehicles, but we do need people to understand the consequences of not taxing a vehicle. Having your vehicle clamped is expensive and inconvenient.”
Wheelclamps are known as the Denver Boot after a primitive form of wheel clamps were pioneered in the Colorado City on January 5 1955. In just one month that year, it collected around $18,000 from errant motorists who had left their vehicles in the wrong places. In today's money that is worth around $160,000.
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