Sheffield ranks fourth worst place in UK for vehicle tax dodgers

Research by insurance firm Veygo totted up all the enforcement actions taken in 2020 against road users who didn’t tax their vehicles – and Sheffield did not fare well.

Across last year, the city saw 18,925 vehicle owners get stumped with fines for not paying a total of £2,838,750 in rates.

It means Sheffield ranks fourth in the UK for dodging road tax.

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The area narrowly came behind Manchester at third place. However, Belfast came first with twice as many untaxed vehicles as Sheffield with a value of £5.7m. Birmingham came second.

Fines for not paying vehicle tax are capped at £1,000, but usually start at £80.

Vehicle tax rates are calculated depending on emissions of CO2. The lowest emission vehicles can pay as little as £10, while the most polluting can pay up to £2,245 up front.

The WC postcode of Western Central London saw the fewest enforcement actions for untaxed vehicles of anywhere in the country, with just 216. This is not a hugely surprising result as Western Central London has a relatively small population and the availability of public transport is vast.

David Roberts, chief product officer from Veygo says: “Paying your vehicle tax is a legal requirement, and failure to pay will usually result in an £80 fine. If you don’t pay the fine, you could be charged up to £1,000 and even have your vehicle seized. Paying your car tax is a simple and straightforward process. Simply visit the government website, enter your details and you will be prompted to pay the appropriate rate of tax for your vehicle. You can choose to pay annually, every six months or monthly.

“The tax you pay to drive your vehicle on public roads goes into central government funding which helps to pay for various infrastructure and local projects, from building new roads to fixing potholes.

“If you don’t intend to drive your car at all on public roads then you don’t need to have it taxed. Instead, you can register a SORN (Statutory Off-Road Notice). However, as soon as your car goes on a public road, even if it’s just parked there, then it will need to be taxed”.