Dodgy men in white van....

[CarCiKoTab]

Morning all,

Just been sitting out in my front garden, it's cooler and it's more private. An unmarked white transit type van has just come down my road stopping at every car looking at what seemed to be the tax discs. Men in the van looked ordinary in the sense they didn't appear to be wearing any uniform and to be quite frank I found it quite dodgy!

I have noted down a description of what they both looked like and the van registration plate. Is it something I should be worried about? Have you spotted something similar? They didn't stop any where they was literally looking at all the cars on my road and roads joined. Once they had done that they left. I know you do get people looking but aren't they usually the postman, bin men people like that? I didn't think there would be a job in it considering everything is done via computer these days.

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

Call Police non emergency 101 and tell them what you've told us.

Really? Do you think its serious enough to do that?

there is no reason for anyone to be checking tax discs it is all done by computer

Yes, alert the local police on 101 - sounds very dodgy behaviour.

I've called the 101 line and spoke to a lovely lady. She's put a message out to local police officers to keep an eye out for the vehicle, nothing ever happens on our road. I don't suppose anyone would know whether I would hear anything about it?

They could be looking for tax disc with a long time left months left as these are not cheap. People will steal anything these days. But they do have the reg on the disc, don't they?
Good that you've called. I doubt it if they have the time to be able to call you back.
Keep an eye in local papers for any news stories.

Just thought I'd let you know I had a phone call back from the police which I thought was brilliant, they said they wanted to reassure me that after speaking to them, the men are working for the council looking for untaxed vehicles on the road. Thanks for all your advise once again!

I was intrigued enough by this explanation to google it and most of the council websites I've looked at (only a handful, am not that sad) state that they don't deal with untaxed vehicles, only that they will remove abandoned vehicles on council land, e.g. this example.

I would google your Council's website and see what it says, CarCiKoTab. Really good response from the police though - I didn't think you'd get a call back!

After reading that makes me feel like I should have challenged the police when they phoned me up. Our council doesn't say anything about looking for tax discs on cars and when I did look up the overall responsibility in regards to the abandoned vehicles for any council it specifically says, the council does not interfere with untaxed vehicles as that's the DVLAs job as an untaxed vehicle does not necessarily mean it's been abandoned.

Yes, I wonder if they accepted what they were told at face value - I'd be tempted to ask the Council, get them to confirm that they don't employ people (in unmarked vans) to look for untaxed vehicles, and then you can notify the police of that. They may not be very bothered but at least you can tell them.

I have faith in what they say.
That's good. Thanks for letting us know. I read far too many crime novels, I think.