Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties Mr. Weir To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many cars were impounded and destroyed for failure to pay vehicle excise duty in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last six years. Jim Fitzpatrick Unlicensed vehicles on a public road are clamped. If a release fee and either a tax disc or surety payment is not made within 24 hours, the vehicles are impounded. If fees are not paid, the vehicle will be disposed of either by it being scrapped, recycled to the emergency services or, in a few cases, sold. Information we hold on the number of vehicles subject to these enforcement steps is: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Vehicles clamped|Of these: vehicles impounded|Vehicles disposed of by scrapping or sale| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |England | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002 |32,270 |21,391 |16,583 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003 |57,794 |37,015 |27,354 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004 |61,732 |44,449 |30,994 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005 |77,355 |57,578 |36,004 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006 |78,272 |56,986 |33,763 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2007 |108,385 |65,010 |39,872 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total |415,808 |282,429 |184,570 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Scotland | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002 |3,062 |2,494 |2,011 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003 |5,199 |3,347 |2,876 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004 |4,028 |2,611 |2,277 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005 |4,030 |2,385 |2,068 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006 |4,393 |2,761 |2,197 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2007 |8,209 |3,986 |3,005 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total |28,921 |17,584 |14,434 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Wales | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002 |1,274 |763 |689 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003 |2,290 |1,225 |1,090 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004 |2,265 |1,299 |1,080 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005 |2,613 |1,855 |1,303 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006 |4,144 |2,315 |1,500 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2007 |7,048 |3,589 |2,368 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total |19,634 |11,046 |8,030 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Northern Ireland | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002 |1— |1— |1— | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003 |1— |1— |1— | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004 |1— |1— |1— | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005 |1,329 |1— |283 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006 |3,132 |911 |849 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2007 |5,039 |1,213 |557 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total |9,500 |2,124 |1,689 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002 |36,606 |24,648 |19,283 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003 |65,283 |41,587 |31,320 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004 |68,025 |48,359 |34,351 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005 |85,327 |61,818 |39,658 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006 |89,941 |62,973 |38,309 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2007 |128,681 |73,798 |45,802 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total |473,863 |313,183 |208,723 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 No figures available.| | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------