More government stupidity.

[Andy Hall]

Sorry but I don't do trolling. If I were to do so, it would be far more subtle.

[Andy Hall]

Both statements are true. There are better alternatives. Whether it is worth spending the money is a separate issue.

[Andy Hall]

Exactly. Just like the limited sample set of the fuzz actually catching and achieving a successful prosecution of miscreants using bits of coloured paper on cars.

[Mark Goodge]

No, you're just an idiot.

Indeed. You don't have that capacity.

Don't bother replying. I won't waste my time on you any more.

Mark

[Graeme]

Is that not what happened with the NHS software upgrade, which was still a total disaster?

[Steve Walker]

The disk in the windscreen can be seen by neighbours, co-workers, traffic wardens, police, etc. all without having to query any computer system. Traffic wardens in particular will look down a whole row of cars, checking pay and display expiry times and glancing at tax disks. So if a car is declared SORN and is actually on the road, it can easily be noticed. Without tax disks, no-one could check without access to the DVLA's computerised information and even if that was available to everyone, how much time and money would be wasted in getting a similar level of checking that way?

The disk is certainly not foolproof, but it does provide another simple method of detection.

Steve W

[Andy Hall]

Probably, but then the problem there is the government trying to be in the healthcare delivery business and failing miserably.

[Andy Hall]

... are they being paid to do this or is it simply a particularly unpleasant invitation for people to poke their noses into the affairs of others?

Do they receive a reward for that?

That amounts to fraud. I would be very surprised if there are a substantial number of instances of that.

This is sledgehammer to crack walnut mentality.

Focus on the wrong issue. If there is not a substantial number of tax evaders then the exercise is pointless. If there is, then there is an issue at the DVLA to resolve.

[Graeme]

The point being that it was 'outsource the whole thing with penalties', but was still a failure.

[Graeme]

An issue which the DVLA resolve by issuing tax discs, either directly or through POs, to indicate whether or not the appropriate tax has been paid.

[Andy Hall]

Groan.....

Even HMRC manage to collect tax without requiring people to use bits of paper.

[Andy Hall]

Accountability and dismissal for the civil servants specifying the systems, financial penalties for the implementers.

[Duncan Wood]

You can try that argument when they inspect your accounts but it won't get you very far.

[Tim Ward]

That is infinitely more data than the zero that you have produced to support your assertions.

[Tim Ward]

They aren't. They are as useful as you want them to be - it's you who decides (through the democratic process) how much tax you want to pay, and it's you who decides (through the democratic process) what priorities to give them. At present you choose to pay insufficient tax for them to be able to put enough effort into what you tell them is low priority for them to be able to catch all the petty thieves, although they do of course get quite a number.

[Andy Hall]

I was referring to personal tax.

[Tim Ward]

Mr Hall appears to be claiming to know far more about policing than everybody else on cam.misc. However the fact that he doesn't even know that the chief constable is a woman is, to me, a suggestion that he doesn't know as much as policing as he is trying to make out.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Graeme writes

Does this mean that we could help retain rural POs by licensing tractors for 6 months only?

Hmm.. I'll bet that is not due to less vehicles on the road.

regards

[Dave Lloyd]

I'm certainly not intending to defend his position which is more than a bit bizarre, but I don't think he's from around here you know - perhaps a uk.diy native?

[Owain]

A closer analogy would be HMRC don't except people to wear little lapel pins that say "I've paid" all the time.

Owain