Licence dodging a growing practice
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• Thousands of vehicles, private, commercial, large and small, were being reported for deliberate evasion of road fund licence payment, said an MP last week. And it was a growing practice, claimed Mr. Arthur Lewis (Labour, West Ham North), who has for long campaigned against licence dodgers.
Speaking during a Commons debate he gave several examples he had heard about —including a 5-ton sand and gravel lorry in North London which, he said, had not been licensed for 18 months.
The driver had five vehicles, and should be paying about 000 a year tax, said Mr. Lewis, but he' would not pay the money because the authorities might catch up with him and find he is earning 000-£400 'a week tax-free by carrying rubble. from our Parliamentary correspondent Mr. Lewis suggested that unless the Home Secretary could ensure, that the law was enforced he should ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to drop the tax altogether, introduce a different system of vehicle registration, and put the charge on to petrol or something else.
For the Home Office, Mr. Merlyn Rees pointed out that responsibility for collecting vehicle excise taxes rested on the county or county borough councils. They were also responsible for the enforcement of that part of the law, and in this they were assisted by the police who reported to them when they found apparently unlicensed vehicles being used on the road.
The police took this responsibility quite seriously and did enforce the law.