§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many owners of vehicles found in Lewisham were prosecuted by the DVLA, other than the Sidcup office, for(a) not registering their vehicle and (b) not taxing their vehicle in 2000. [144998]
§ Mr. HillAll keepers of unlicensed vehicles found in Lewisham or those guilty of not registering their vehicle in their name are prosecuted by the Sidcup office. There were no prosecutions for these offences taken by any office other than Sidcup.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many people were prosecuted as a result of activity by the DVLA Sidcup office in 2000 for(a) not registering their vehicle and (b) not taxing their vehicle. [144999]
§ Mr. HillDuring the period January-December 2000, 129 people were prosecuted by the Sidcup office for not registering their vehicle and 11,933 people were prosecuted for not taxing their vehicle.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what were the highest and lowest fines imposed on people for(a) not registering their vehicle and (b) not taxing their vehicle as 450W a result of a successful prosecution by the DVLA Sidcup office in 2000. [145000]
§ Mr. HillFigures relating to individual levels of fines are not available without a separate exercise to extract this information. The maximum fine available to the courts for each of these offences however is £1,000 (or five times the annual rate of duty whichever is more).
The average fine imposed in cases prosecuted by the Sidcup office during the year 2000 was around (a) £50 for not registering a vehicle and (b) £110 for not taxing a vehicle. In addition, offenders were ordered to pay an average of £65 in penalties relating to unpaid duty and £40 in costs.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many complaints were received in the DVLA Sidcup office in 2000 about untaxed vehicles(a) by telephone, (b) by letter and (c) by e-mail. [145001]
§ Mr. HillDuring the year 2000, the DVLA Sidcup office received 9,249 reports of unlicensed use from members of the public by telephone and 5,250 reports by letter. There are no facilities to receive e-mails direct at Sidcup and figures for reports received at DVLA Swansea (appropriate to Sidcup) by this method are counted in with those by letter.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many untaxed vehicles were identified and(a) clamped and (b) removed by the DVLA contractor Sureways in each of the London boroughs in 2000. [144996]
§ Mr. HillA total of 3,945 untaxed vehicles were wheel-clamped in London during the year 2000 with 1,705 removed and impounded. The breakdown for each London borough is as follows:
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London borough Vehicles clamped Vehicles removed Barnet 34 18 Barking 118 53 Bexley 283 120 Brent 92 41 Bromley 80 27 Camden 5 1 Croydon 153 23 Ealing 71 38 Enfield 57 30 Greenwich 576 241 Hackney 104 55 Hammersmith and Fulham 102 32 Haringey 57 20 Harrow 10 4 Havering 0 0 Hounslow 5 0 Islington 46 27 Kensington and Chelsea 57 21 Kingston 13 6 Lambeth 208 104 Lewisham 333 180 Merton 117 56 Newham 175 75 Redbridge 164 66 Richmond 46 8 Southwark 334 151 Sutton 72 22 Tower Hamlets 116 30 Waltham Forest 191 99 Wandsworth 209 103 Westminster 117 54 Total 3,945 1,705
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many residents of Lewisham were prosecuted by the DVLA, other than the Sidcup office, for(a) not registering their vehicle and (b) not taxing their vehicle in 2000. [144997]
§ Mr. HillA Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) offence is prosecuted in the area in which it is detected. It is not possible to identify the place of residence of these offenders without a special exercise being carried out to extract this information.
A registration offence is always prosecuted in the area in which the offender lives provided the last registration document was issued on or after 24 March 1997. No resident of Lewisham would be prosecuted for failing to register their vehicle by any office other than Sidcup in these circumstances.
If the last registration document was issued before this date however and the offence also included a VED offence detected outside the Sidcup area, both offences would be prosecuted in the area they were detected. There are no figures available for these cases.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate the DVLA has made of the percentage of vehicles on the streets of each of the London boroughs which are(a) not registered to the current keeper and (b) not taxed. [144976]
§ Mr. HillThe DVLA has no estimate of the percentage of vehicles in London which are not registered to the current keeper. As a result of the last roadside survey carried out in June 1999 the Agency estimates that 162,000 vehicles are not taxed within the London area. Figures for the individual boroughs are not available.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many calls the DVLA Sidcup office took about untaxed vehicles from members of the public in each of the last five years. [144993]
§ Mr. HillDuring the year 2000, a total of 9,249 telephone calls and 5,250 letters were received. For the period 1997–99, individual figures are not available but over the period, 40,253 telephone calls and 4,283 letters were received. Figures prior to 1997 are not available.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many prosecutions for untaxed vehicles were discontinued because the information on the registered keeper was not kept up to date(a) in London and (b) nationally in 2000. [144994]
§ Mr. HillCases which are discontinued because of outdated information are not identified separately. However, during the year 2000, 25,189 cases in London and 178,662 cases nationally, were closed as the Agency was unable to contact or confirm the offender. A number of these would relate to outdated keeper information being held on record.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many complaints were received by the DVLA Swansea about untaxed vehicles found in each of the London boroughs in 2000. [144995]
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§ Mr. HillDuring the period January-December 2000, there was a total of 69 complaints about untaxed vehicles received by DVLA Swansea. Of these, 58 were referred to the Sidcup office, seven to Stanmore and one to Wimbledon. There is no breakdown of the originating borough.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions where the DVLA's roadside cameras for automatic photographing of tax discs and number plates will be piloted. [144977]
§ Mr. HillThe camera systems for detecting untaxed vehicles through the reading of number plates will be piloted in the areas covered by the DVLA local offices in Swansea, Edinburgh, Luton and Shrewsbury.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many vehicles in London are exempt from registration for three months as a result of being sold into the motor trade. [144978]
§ Mr. HillThe Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has responsibility for recording vehicle keepership changes on a national basis. Regional information cannot be provided without running a prohibitively expensive scan of the vehicle database.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the impact on the effectiveness of the DVLA plan to photograph tax discs and number plates automatically from roadside cameras on tracking down drivers of untaxed vehicles of registration details being out of date. [144975]
§ Mr. HillThe effectiveness of the DVLA camera scheme for the enforcement of vehicle excise duty will be measured by the number of additional evaders successfully penalised, and by the number encouraged to relicense voluntarily when faced with the increased risk of being caught.
Camera enforcement will still require the tracking down of those responsible for the offence where vehicle keepership details are not up to date. However, expected increase in compliance following the introduction of the cameras should improve the up-to-dateness of the DVLA record and reduce the incidence of out-of-date registration details.
§ Ms Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what arrangements the DVLA has made to take details of untaxed vehicles from members of the public in Lewisham. [144987]
§ Mr. HillThe DVLA Sidcup office currently has two members of staff employed fully on taking reports from the public by telephone or letter. All calls and letters are logged onto a computer database and referred to the Agency's Inquiry Officers for investigation. Members of the public are also advised that they can if they wish, complete witness statements themselves. The DVLA website contains information on how to report unlicensed vehicles with the facility to download and print the statement of witness form.
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§ Mr. FearnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many prosecutions in England and Wales there were(a) for driving without a valid vehicle excise duty licence, (b) for driving without insurance and (c) for failing to complete and present a SORN for the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available; and what percentage in each category were successful. [144936]
§ Mr. Hill(a) Prosecutions for using or keeping a vehicle on a public road, without a valid excise duty licence for England and Wales were
- 2000
- Prosecutions: 217,217
- Success rate: 98.9 per cent.
(b) Prosecutions in England and Wales for the offence of
using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks" are:
- 1999
- Prosecutions: 387,419
- Conviction rate: 67 per cent.
(c) Prosecutions in England and Wales for failing to complete and present a SORN declaration were:
- 2000
- Prosecutions: 226
- Success rate: 99 per cent.
§ Mr. FearnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the latest estimate is of the number of unlicensed motor vehicles regularly used(a) on the highway, (b) off the highway with a valid SORN and (c) off the highway for more than one month without a valid SORN. [144938]
§ Mr. HillThe results of the most recent roadside survey of vehicle excise duty (VED) evasion were published in 1999, when it was estimated there were some 1.5 million untaxed vehicles in use on the public road at any time.
Enforcement action under SORN was deferred until May 2000 to give the public time to become familiar with the law. DVLA is developing a means of producing SORN information which should be available later in the year.
§ Mr. FearnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many without prejudice £25 fine notices were issued per month to vehicle owners who failed to provide information on unlicensed vehicles for which there is no SORN application over the last year. [144937]
§ Mr. HillThe information requested is as follows:
Number 2000 January 2,745 February 7,787 March 3,288 April 4,312 May 14,506 June 14,423 July 15,989 August 18,227 September 20,960 October 26,103 November 32,391 December 29,375