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@evoman3957 wrote:

In this day and age of computers, as well as issuing a MOT on paper to the customer; they are registered on line. So all Cars over 3 years old, get taxed at the same time as they get MOT; paid to the Garage, acting on behalf of the DVLA. Then all three ( Tax, Insurance & MOT ) are logged on line against the Cars registration.  If a Car is missing either of the three on line, against its reg, the owner is visited and Tax collected at the Door; by the person visiting them. If they can't pay, a tow truck is called and the Car is impounded for 1 month; then disposed of. If a Car is missing more than one of the three, then that's a sign ( to me ) of deliberate evasion and the owner is visited and the Car is siezed and disposed of + the owners licence is taken away for 1 year. If anybody finds a way around this, they are jailed for 1 year, lose their licence for 1 year and lose their Car permanently. You don't deal with "SCUM BAGS" by making a game of it and seeing who can play the system better......them or decent people. You either solve a problem PROPERLY by doing what's necessary and having the backbone to carry it out, or you tinker with it ,in the usual gutless manner that people do and have it drag on forever.

The first three years of Tax are added onto the price of the Car, when it's bought new, payable to the DVLA by the company selling it.

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That all sounds highly feasible but equally highly unlikely to happen. The government would have Human Rights lawyers all over them for penalising the poor and depriving people of their civil liberties. To say nothing of the expense involved in monitoring such a system with close to 30 million private vehicles on our roads. Ok fair enough a computer with a completely centralised system could highlight when an out of date issue occurs, but who is going to make all these home visits and vehicle seizures? It would need an army of staff just to deal with the current law breakers.

The disc system had worked well enough for several generations of car owners, I don't know why it was ever changed. In my view it should have been extended to include insurance and MOT requirements that can be checked at a glance. But of course even that has it's down side as we are heading more and more towards a paper free society and there are fewer and fewer Police on the streets to deal with such things.

But in the meantime I still think adding tax to fuel is the best way to go until someone comes up with a workable alternative.