I asked the dvla the very same question and was told they need to hand in the tax disc unless they have lost it... Loophole indeed

Hi and thanks, yes I phoned him tonight - he is looking into it. I think he bought the car and sold it on. He said that he would contact the previous owner and check - I think he bought the car with the tax situation already in place. My other gripe is with the DVLA though. Can they really just clamp you, get you to pay then even when you do pay up, keep you stranded with no explanation. If I hadn't phoned them to check, i would still be waiting in good faith following them saying they would release the vehicle...

Hi, my first post and quite a long story... I purchased a car privately last month. It was taxed until 11/12 (end of Nov)... or so i thought. Whilst driving thru a small country village where i work when a DVLA van taps on the window. They inform me my car is not taxed. I tell them it is and show them the tax disc which says end nov 12. They inform me that when i purchased the car, the tax disc had been refunded in may - I had the receipt from the car purchase on me and tried to use it as proof. as i had to return to work, they followed me and clamped my car, telling me it was £100 to have it released. When I asked about timescale he told me that he was working in the area until 5 or 6 so he would come and release it once I had paid. I phoned at approx 3:45pm, paid £260 and was told it would be released in approx 1 hour, maybe 2 at 5:30 i was worried i hadnt heard anything so phoned them back - they said they had one car left on their system - mine - and it wasnt being released until tomorrow morning. Now I work 30 miles from home and in a rural surrounding. I had no way of getting home - as you can imagine I am now livid. The guy on phone at DVLA said he is the only one there and can't help. He told me the people who release the car stop at 4 - implying the other two i had spoken to were lying. this has been a huge inconvenience - anyone know my rights? can they tell me they are going to release my vehicle, then just not do it even after I have paid? Plus what about the part where I never knew about the Tax (DVLA said they didnt need to surrender the tax disc upon refund as they could say it was lost etc...) PS someone mentioned that they clamped the passenger side which isn't allowed - is this true? Thank you