New UK rules on temporary use of Foreign reg cars .....
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mpprh
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New UK rules on temporary use of Foreign reg cars .....
Spotted on the web :
On 1st January 2009, Police forces throughout Britain commenced "Operation Andover," aimed at ridding the roads of foreign-registered vehicles, which were being driven in the U.K. for months or even years without having been taxed or MOTed. ( Northampton is full of them - mainly from Poland.)
We were given the DVLA directive, on which impounding was based ( press release 24/2006 ) which states that "Vehicles that are properly registered and taxed in their home countries and brought into the U.K. temporarily are usually exempt from U.K. registration in the U.K. for up to six months in any twelve month period."
Any sane person would assume that this would be a cumulative process, so someone visiting the U.K. in their vehicle from 1st January 2009 to 10th January 2009 and then from 1st July to 10th July 2009 would have been in the U.K. for a total of twenty days.
Not so.
The Police's interpretation of the Directive is that the Six Month Period commences on 1st January 2009 and ends on 30th June 2009, even if the vehicle had left the U.K. within days of arriving.
More : www.eyeonspain.com/spain-magazine/spani ... in-uk.aspx
Peter
On 1st January 2009, Police forces throughout Britain commenced "Operation Andover," aimed at ridding the roads of foreign-registered vehicles, which were being driven in the U.K. for months or even years without having been taxed or MOTed. ( Northampton is full of them - mainly from Poland.)
We were given the DVLA directive, on which impounding was based ( press release 24/2006 ) which states that "Vehicles that are properly registered and taxed in their home countries and brought into the U.K. temporarily are usually exempt from U.K. registration in the U.K. for up to six months in any twelve month period."
Any sane person would assume that this would be a cumulative process, so someone visiting the U.K. in their vehicle from 1st January 2009 to 10th January 2009 and then from 1st July to 10th July 2009 would have been in the U.K. for a total of twenty days.
Not so.
The Police's interpretation of the Directive is that the Six Month Period commences on 1st January 2009 and ends on 30th June 2009, even if the vehicle had left the U.K. within days of arriving.
More : www.eyeonspain.com/spain-magazine/spani ... in-uk.aspx
Peter
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john
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Sounds like at long last, the UK rozzers are going to have a purge, as the Gendarmes sporadically (and quite rightly) do here. My only gripe with what happens here is that the Flic's efforts here seem to be totally devoted to GB cars. I've seen several Belgian,German and Danish cars near here where I know the owners live here permanently,and they never seem to be targetted.
It can't come quickly enough imho. Our old village in Norfolk is full to the gunnels of ropey old Portuguese,Latvian ,Polish and Lithuanian jalopies. Very few roadworthy,and none taxed/tested. God knows how many are insured. And what do the fuzz do about it? Absolutely b*gger-all.
It can't come quickly enough imho. Our old village in Norfolk is full to the gunnels of ropey old Portuguese,Latvian ,Polish and Lithuanian jalopies. Very few roadworthy,and none taxed/tested. God knows how many are insured. And what do the fuzz do about it? Absolutely b*gger-all.
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thumbelina
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Unfortunately, as always seems to be the case, the British authorities are very slow to prosecute other nationalities, but the British always seem to be one of the first nationalites to be persued by foreign authorities!!!
A very big gripe that I have is that in Britain we used to have one of the most efficient haulage industries in Europe - the world, even. Unfortunately, this industry is now virtually non existent, due to a greedy Government taxing the haulage industry - in road fund licences and in fuel duty - so that the industry has become uncompetitive.
British hauliers also have a much more stringent maintenance schedule for their trucks than their European counterparts. Yet British hauliers are the ones often pulled over by the British police because they are a soft target - and it's easier to get a fine paid by a British haulier than a foreign one!!
A British haulier entering Europe has to pay road fund licence in the UK, and all of the tolls in whichever country he is passing through. A foreign haulier pays a reduced RFL in his own country and then drives freely along the British roads without contributing a sou! He has also had the benefit of paying less for his fuel than his British counterpart and, very often, is employing eastern European labour which costs next to nothing.
We never seem to be reading from the same hymn sheet as anyone else
When will we ever start to look after our own, and look after OUR national interest?
A very big gripe that I have is that in Britain we used to have one of the most efficient haulage industries in Europe - the world, even. Unfortunately, this industry is now virtually non existent, due to a greedy Government taxing the haulage industry - in road fund licences and in fuel duty - so that the industry has become uncompetitive.
British hauliers also have a much more stringent maintenance schedule for their trucks than their European counterparts. Yet British hauliers are the ones often pulled over by the British police because they are a soft target - and it's easier to get a fine paid by a British haulier than a foreign one!!
A British haulier entering Europe has to pay road fund licence in the UK, and all of the tolls in whichever country he is passing through. A foreign haulier pays a reduced RFL in his own country and then drives freely along the British roads without contributing a sou! He has also had the benefit of paying less for his fuel than his British counterpart and, very often, is employing eastern European labour which costs next to nothing.
We never seem to be reading from the same hymn sheet as anyone else
When will we ever start to look after our own, and look after OUR national interest?-
thumbelina
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john
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I'd agree with that if,as it seems,they've been up till now discouraged from acting.thumbelina wrote:PS I am ABSOLUTELY NOT having a go at the Police in my previous post!
But, if Peter's report is to be believed,I'll certainly have a pop at them,as I always do, if they sit in their stations and do nowt.
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mpprh
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Update from Peter West :
Good afternoon,
Below is a follow-up to the story of the impounding of my vehicle by the Northamptonshire Police in March last year.
It shows that someimes the little man wins !
The letter from the European Commission is in the attachment.
Kind Regards,
Peter West
A British ex-patriate, whose Spanish-registered vehicle was unlawfully impounded by the Northamptonshire Police, has won the backing of the European Commission and forced the UK authorities to issue new guidelines to the DVLA and British police forces.
Peter West, who lives in Spain in the winter and in Puntous ( département des Hautes Pyrénées ) in the summer, visited the UK in his Spanish car for three weeks in July 2008 and then returned to Northampton, where his daughter lives, in February 2009 for the birth of his first grandchild.
However, the visit was marred when the Northamptonshire Police impounded his car, on the grounds that he had exceeded the permitted stay for a foreign registered vehicle, the so-called “six-months-in twelve” rule.
When Mr. West pointed out that, in total, his vehicle, which was fully-taxed and insured, had been in the country for only nine weeks, the police claimed that a European law, directive 83/182/EEC, stated that the car's return to Spain the previous year was irrelevant as “once a vehicle enters the country, a six month clock starts, with no breaks, even if the vehicle returns to its country of origin.”
Mr. West refused to pay the £420 the Northamptonshire Police had demanded, arguing that this new interpretation of a thirty-year-old law, which had originally been introduced to make European motoring easier, was nonsense and would make more than one visit a year by expatriates to their families, as well as other regular visitors, almost impossible. After several days of argument, he was reunited with his vehicle.
Mr. West said : “I found out that other visitors from Europe, who had a limited understanding of English, had been caught in this trap. I therefore decided that I needed to follow this up to prevent other innocent expatriates and European visitors from being caught in what seemed to be a scam.”
Letters to the Northamptonshire Police and the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency ( DVLA ) were met with a barrage of misrepresentation and evasion, leading Mr. West to take his case to the European Commission. After eighteen months, he has now received confirmation that the UK authorities accept that “only the time that a visiting vehicle actually spends in the United Kingdom is actually included in the calculation of establishing the six-months-in twelve period” and have agreed to “refresh” the operational guidelines issued to the DVLA's operational partners, the police.
“This has been very difficult for me.” said Peter West. “Watching your car being loaded onto a pick-up truck by a policeman is a traumatic experience. I have not driven back since my car was taken, which means I have spent much less time with my family than I would have liked.”
“There is too much bullying of ordinary people by U.K. government departments, including the police, who think they are above the Law. On this occasion I am happy that I have been able to strike a blow for the man in the street and, especially, for law-abiding expatriates who want to visit their families a couple of times a year.”
“ All that remains is for the Northamptonshire Police and the DVLA to apologise. But I shall not be holding my breath !”
Well done Peter !
Good afternoon,
Below is a follow-up to the story of the impounding of my vehicle by the Northamptonshire Police in March last year.
It shows that someimes the little man wins !
The letter from the European Commission is in the attachment.
Kind Regards,
Peter West
A British ex-patriate, whose Spanish-registered vehicle was unlawfully impounded by the Northamptonshire Police, has won the backing of the European Commission and forced the UK authorities to issue new guidelines to the DVLA and British police forces.
Peter West, who lives in Spain in the winter and in Puntous ( département des Hautes Pyrénées ) in the summer, visited the UK in his Spanish car for three weeks in July 2008 and then returned to Northampton, where his daughter lives, in February 2009 for the birth of his first grandchild.
However, the visit was marred when the Northamptonshire Police impounded his car, on the grounds that he had exceeded the permitted stay for a foreign registered vehicle, the so-called “six-months-in twelve” rule.
When Mr. West pointed out that, in total, his vehicle, which was fully-taxed and insured, had been in the country for only nine weeks, the police claimed that a European law, directive 83/182/EEC, stated that the car's return to Spain the previous year was irrelevant as “once a vehicle enters the country, a six month clock starts, with no breaks, even if the vehicle returns to its country of origin.”
Mr. West refused to pay the £420 the Northamptonshire Police had demanded, arguing that this new interpretation of a thirty-year-old law, which had originally been introduced to make European motoring easier, was nonsense and would make more than one visit a year by expatriates to their families, as well as other regular visitors, almost impossible. After several days of argument, he was reunited with his vehicle.
Mr. West said : “I found out that other visitors from Europe, who had a limited understanding of English, had been caught in this trap. I therefore decided that I needed to follow this up to prevent other innocent expatriates and European visitors from being caught in what seemed to be a scam.”
Letters to the Northamptonshire Police and the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency ( DVLA ) were met with a barrage of misrepresentation and evasion, leading Mr. West to take his case to the European Commission. After eighteen months, he has now received confirmation that the UK authorities accept that “only the time that a visiting vehicle actually spends in the United Kingdom is actually included in the calculation of establishing the six-months-in twelve period” and have agreed to “refresh” the operational guidelines issued to the DVLA's operational partners, the police.
“This has been very difficult for me.” said Peter West. “Watching your car being loaded onto a pick-up truck by a policeman is a traumatic experience. I have not driven back since my car was taken, which means I have spent much less time with my family than I would have liked.”
“There is too much bullying of ordinary people by U.K. government departments, including the police, who think they are above the Law. On this occasion I am happy that I have been able to strike a blow for the man in the street and, especially, for law-abiding expatriates who want to visit their families a couple of times a year.”
“ All that remains is for the Northamptonshire Police and the DVLA to apologise. But I shall not be holding my breath !”
Well done Peter !
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admiral
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We have a similar sitaution in Ireland,
you might find this article of interest !
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7899171.stm
you might find this article of interest !
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7899171.stm
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