On Jan 10, 3:13pm, Paul Garside wrote:
> Subject: Re: taxes
>
> W. Ray Gibbons" <gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu> muses:
>
> >I gather the issue is that people drive a car without paying the tax
> >on it. How do they do that, if one must have a disc on the window
> >showing the tax has been paid?
>
> I guess it is a question of police workload, resourcing and priorities.
> "When stopped and questioned, the defendant replied variously, m'lud, that
> he had just acquired the vehicle, and that the tax disc was in the post/
> must have fallen off the windscreen and blown out the window/been eaten by
> the family Rottweiler. I requested that he produce the tax disc at a police
> station of his choice within fourteen days, which he failed to do. I then
> issued a summons etc etc etc.
>
> In some parts of our cities, what would you have the police do, chase tax
> discs or try to keep the streets safe?
>
> Paul.
>
>
>-- End of excerpt from Paul Garside
I guess that you aren't including the constabulary around the U.S. military
installations. ;O They seemed to take great pleasure on stopping the Yanks.
My wife was stopped one Saturday in our Morris just outside the base gates.
"May I see your MOT, tax disc and insurance certificate please ma'am." She
gave the lot to the officer, he looked at them and sent her on her way. She
wasn't speeding, she just happened to be in a car with a base decal. The
next day, we were driving in the same area, and the police were waiting
for us at the same location. Same thing happened, I gave him all the paper-
work, he said thanks, and sent us on out way. Before we left, I told him
that I thought that it was pretty poor relations, what with them sitting
in the same location two days in a row, and pulling over the same car for
no illegal activity. He really got my knickers in a twist!
The Americans paid fines that were quite a bit higher than the locals, and
we always joked that we paid for the then new Police Station because of
that. I was quite fortunate, I only received one ticket, they pulled me
over because they couldn't see my tax disc. They then gave my car a good
going over, even to the point of having me set the handbrake and the two
of them got behind the Mini and pushed. The handbrake didn't hold, tick 1.
Tick 2: I had windscreen washers that didn't work. Tick 3: no number plate
lamp. I went before the Magistrates and got away with "only" 15 quid. Had
I been a local, I probably wouldn't have been stopped in the first place.
Doug Mitchell - I put money into the Mildenhall Police Station, but not
by choice.
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