Norwich clamping: 200 untaxed vehicles caught in a week

More than 200 untaxed vehicles have been clamped in Norwich in the space of a week

More then 200 untaxed cars have been clamped in and around Norwich in a week, during a crackdown in the city.

Owners were given 24 hours to pay £100 to the DVLA's clamping partner NSL for the release of the vehicle or see it impounded and possibly destroyed.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said since vehicle tax had moved online more people are forgetting to renew.

The DVLA said its partner clamped 210 untaxed vehicles since 13 August.

Ms Stretton said that nationally the number of people prosecuted for not having vehicle tax had gone up year on year since 2014 when it was almost 60,000 and had reached 92,000 in 2017.

"DVLA operates a range of measures to make vehicle tax easy to pay and hard to avoid, including online vehicle taxing and Direct Debit," an agency statement said.

"We also continue to send reminder letters to vehicle keepers, which is why it is so important they notify DVLA of a change of address or keeper.

"It is right that we take action against those who don't tax their vehicles and then drive them otherwise it wouldn't be fair to those who do the right thing."

The official keeper of the vehicle must pay a release fee of £100 and, if they cannot show it has been taxed, a further surety of £160 is levied.

"The surety fee is refunded if the motorist is able to show that the vehicle has been taxed within 15 days of its release," the statement added.

"If the release fee has not been paid then we'll impound the vehicle.

"The release fee will then rise to £200 and there will be a storage charge of £21 per day."