The BBC carries another story about motorcycle tax evasion today:
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency risks becoming “a complete laughing stock” after it emerged nearly 40% of motorbikes were untaxed, MPs have said.
Evasion rates among all road users rose to 5% in 2006-7, costing taxpayers £214 million, up from 3.6% in 2005-6.
It sounds terrible, doesn’t it? Although, you might consider that the DVLA is a laughing stock because of gross inefficiency and incompetence, but that’s another matter.
So, what about this rampant tax evasion by we criminally minded bikers, then? Do you recall that I commented on this very thing back in September? At that time, I quoted Chris Hodder of the BMF – I’ll remind you:
Thirty-eight per cent of all motorcycles are being ridden without tax, according to the DVLA. That means that every third motorcycle on the road doesn’t have a valid tax disc. Somehow, I (and many others) find that very hard to believe. That would mean that over a third of all motorcyclists are criminals.
I posed the question at the time and I’ll do so again, where, exactly, did this 40% figure come from?
The DVLA sent people out to take down the registration number of every passing vehicle and they then checked this against the tax database. This yielded a figure of 16 per cent evasion for bikes. They then ran this through a computer model working on the assumption that untaxed bikes are ridden less and arrived at a figure of 38 per cent.
That’s right, they made it up. This figure is a piece of fiction and on the basis of this fiction, they want to penalise a whole group of law abiding road users:
The Commons Public Accounts Committee urged the DVLA and Department for Transport to “strongly consider” tougher measures to tackle evasion.
Chairman Edward Leigh said the DVLA’s efforts to deal with it were “poor”.
The only thing here that is “poor” is the fucking inability of the DVLA to deal with facts rather than fantasy. Let me remind you of Chris Hodder’s thoughts on the DVLA’s relationship with facts and figures:
Personally, I don’t have a great deal of confidence that the DVLA even knows that I have a valid tax disc, let alone that it has the correct details for the 1.62 million motorcycles it thinks it has details for.
So, Edward Leigh – fuckwit extraordinaire bases his understanding on the flawed outcomes of a flawed organisation. The truth and the DVLA are at opposite ends of the spectrum and ne’er the twain shall meet.
Hi-tech solutions, such as electronic chips in number plates, theft-resistant plates and sensors in vehicles should be considered in the longer-term to tackle the growing problem of cloned, false and foreign plates, the MPs’ report said.
Let me make this absolutely clear; there will be no chip or tracking device fitted in any of my vehicles. I will never consent to this and will never abide by any such measure. At present, I am, like the majority of motorcyclists, a law abiding, tax paying citizen. If this becomes law, I will break it.
Edward Leigh wades in with some unfounded allegations:
Motorcyclists are particularly liable to evade road tax. Nearly 40% of motorcycles are now unlicensed.
This is a lie. Motorcyclists are no more likely than any other segment of the population to break laws – and the 40% figure is a piece of fiction cooked up by the DVLA.
Large parts of the biking community are cocking a snook at the law.
No, you arsehole, you are cocking a snoop at the law-abiding, tax-paying public by treating us as if we are criminals with no more evidence to support your allegations than a figure plucked out of the collective arseholes of the DVLA. You are basing your assertions on a piece of fiction.
The MPs found that enforcement of road tax on motorbikes was difficult because roadside cameras had been unable to read their number plates from the rear.
Tough. Get over it. If you place cameras so that they read the front of the vehicle, that’s your problem; don’t expect any sympathy form me. Given that you have decided that one in three of us is a criminal anyway, my view of you as being beneath contempt is more than justified.
A final anecdote, here. I’ve been riding bikes for thirty three years and in that time have met and trained plenty of fellow riders. I have never in that time come across somone riding an untaxed bike. Never.
God! How I hate these people.
I think you are being a tad harsh on Edward Leigh, who might have fallen for this 40% nonsense, but is pretty spot on a lot of the time.
Given that he is making unfounded assertions that are pure prejudice – such as motorcyclists are particularly liable to evade tax – I think I’m being too gentle. The odious little man deserves the lamp post, rope and spike treatment.
“Given that he is making unfounded assertions that are pure prejudice ”
No – he is repeating, possibly uncritically but nonetheless just repeating, the faulty DVLA stats. Unless we know that Edward Leigh was aware of the dodgy methodology – and that is a very long chalk – we can’t say that he is as bad as the DVLA.
Save the brickbats for the loons that produced the research.
Ahem… Without wishing to get too pedantic; repeating uncritically is engaging in prejudice. Unfortunately, during the past thirty three years, I’ve had enough encounters with the Edward Leighs of this world, to recognise the underlying prejudice. Usually their uncritical opener is that motorcycles “are dangerous”. They are not. Riding one involves a higher degree of risk – not the same thing at all.
If Leigh had merely confined himself to statements of fact without additional emotive comments along the lines of motorcyclists being “particularly liable…” and “large parts of the biking community are cocking a snook” – then, yes, I’d go along with you.
As for his awareness of the stats; he is the chair of the public accounts committee – he should damn well make himself aware of their methodology. If he hasn’t, he deserves opprobrium for negligence and if he has, he is complicit in the DVLA’s fraud. Either way, it’s lose-lose…
All that said; my brickbats for the people who came up with the figure may be taken as read.
One other thing:
“Motorcyclists are particularly liable to evade road tax. Nearly 40% of motorcycles are now unlicensed.”
Without qualifying the remark with evidence surely the remark just becomes prejudice? Insert “Jews”, “Muslims” or “homosexuals” in the place of “motorcyclists” and the remark would be considered prejudicial in the highest regard, and Mr Leigh lambasted as a bigot.
While I agree with your post wholeheartedly, I am saddened by the conduct of Edward Leigh. Hitherto I have always had him pegged as one of the good guys, but have to admit that Thom has it spot on.
A sad day when even the good guys are engulfed in the lunacy.
Hm… Haven’t come across him before, so was making judgements based upon his pronouncements on this issue. I go back to my earlier comment – as the chair of the committee, it is beholden upon him to make sure that he understands the methodology used. After all, 40% should seem ridiculously high – enough to raise eyebrows and cause a rational man to ask some awkward questions about just how those figures were arrived at.
Failure to do that is dereliction of duty.
“theft-resistant plates ” Where do they dream these things up? It like the satellite tracking device for criminals you talked about below.
I don’t ride a bike, but if this law comes in I might get one so I can break the law as well.
I read this in a paper I found on a train today and my first thought was “I wonder how they arrived at this figure”, so thanks for filling in the blanks.
More worrying is a reference to a new law come September which will apparently give the Police and Councils the right to do something (it is isn’t clear what) about untaxed vehicles even if they are private land. I have a an untaxed vehicle on my private land perfectly legally. Since it hasn’t turned a wheel on public roads in my ownership, and it’s been like that for 20 years, it isn’t covered by SORN and doesn’t need to be – I wonder is some busybody is about to seize it?
Back to the point – this is typical – the DVLA can’t even get the simple things right. I couldn’t renew my tax online last year because their database was missing a vital piece of data that I didn’t know about and couldn’t have known about and that their fabulous system couldn’t be bothered to tell me about – it just kept saying “no” – try later – as if that would have worked. They are trying to cover up their own long term crapness.
Computer modelling is the modern euphemism for complete fabrication. A bit like anthropogenic global warming…
Hi there,
These dodgy stats came to my attention last week, and I’ve published a post showing exactly where the problem lies, which is not predominantly with the computer modelling or statistics per se, and is, in fact, due to some gobsmackingly dumb assumptions and poor design of the research methodology.
The initial figure of 16% was massively over-reported because of a long delay between the traffic survey and the check against the DVLA system – in the meantime many thousands of summer only bikers would have SORNed the bike for the winter and come of the VED database.
The error was compounded when they added the “correction” for low mileage vehicles that they would have missed in the survey – these are the figures based on a survey of trucks from 1984.
You can see my original post at the Bikesure Blog.
David,
Thanks for that – it fills in the gaps from the BMF information I had.