TheDepartment of Transportand
theDriver and Vehicle Licensing Agencyshould consider using automatic number plate recognition
(ANPR) systems to help better measure the level of vehicle excise
duty evasion.
The recommendation comes from the
National Audit Office, which says evasion is going up and
hitting the DVLA's attempts to meet Gershon savings and efficiency
targets.
According to the Department for Transport's roadside survey in
June 2006, Vehicle Excise Duty evasion was running at around 5%,
worth £217m. This was up from the 3.6% reported in the previous
year.
The DVLA, said the NAO, has little prospect of achieving its
evasion target of 2.5% by December 2007.
It also has little chance of meeting its related Gershon
efficiency target to generate - through a reduction in evasion - an
additional £70m in revenue each year by the end of March 2008, said
the NAO.
The last roadside survey also estimated that over a third of
motorcyclists (37%) are unlicensed, an increase from 30% the
previous year.
NAO DVLA report >>
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DVLA speeds registrations with Banctec scanning system
>>
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