NI car tax evaders cost public purse £13m

Northern Ireland vehicle tax evaders cost the Treasury around £13 million last year, according to the latest findings.

A DoE survey found that just over 10% of all vehicles on Northern Ireland's roads were not properly taxed.

The Chief Executive of the Driver Vehicle Licensing (NI), Brendan Magee, voiced his "disappointment" at the figures, but said that increased demand on resources and fewer offences being reported to police had contributed to the surge in tax evasion.

"In terms of road safety there is a clear link between tax evasion and driving uninsured or without a valid vehicle test certificate," he said.

"In one recent exercise we found that 75% of vehicles stopped for having no road tax were also uninsured."

However, Mr Magee said that there had been successes including the use of cameras which uncovered 6,900 offences. He added that the Statutory off the Road Notification (SORN), which was started last December, would also go some way to tackling the problem.

Last year 15,966 car owners were prosecuted or their vehicles auctioned for failing to pay Vehicle Excise Duty, and £2.1 million was collected in penalties, back duty and fines.

Elsewhere, the Northern Ireland Road and Rail Transport Statistics Quarterly Bulletin has found that the number of new cars registered in the last quarter of last year has dipped by 19% on 2001's figure.

There were 10,692 new cars registered during the quarter, almost a 19% decrease on the number of new cars (13,146) registered during the corresponding quarter of 2001.

(GMcG)