463 untaxed cars seized from Black Country roads in JUST one year
Almost 500 cars have been seized by police in the Black Country during 12 months after motorists were found flouting the law by not having road tax.
More than six times the number of vehicles were taken off the streets last year than in 2012, figures released through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request reveal.
Dozens more have already been confiscated by police and councils across the region so far this year.
It comes after police launched a crackdown aimed specifically at overseas drivers who avoid registering and licensing their cars in the UK.
And police and councils across the region have continued this year to catch law-breakers and tow away illegal vehicles.
Latest figures show that police captured a total of 463 cars in 2015 with 222 of them discovered in Sandwell alone. There were also 135 removed from streets in Wolverhampton, 60 in Dudley and 46 in Walsall.
In 2012, there were 76 seized across the Black Country – which is an increase of 509 per cent.
Operation Jessica was launched in 2014 giving police powers to seize the vehicles and insist owners tax, insure and register them in the UK or leave the country within 56 days; any vehicles not claimed will be crushed.
It was estimated up to 350,000 foreign registered vehicles entered the UK and overstayed the six month exemption period without registering and licensing between 2010-2013, costing the taxpayer £60 million every year.
Deb Edmonds, spokeswoman for West Midlands Police, said: "The increase is mostly due to Operation Jessica which has targeted foreign cars. There will be some local ones included in those figures but the majority will have been seized because of Operation Jessica."
Chief Inspector Jed White, from the Central Motorway Police Group, said: "Foreign vehicles must be registered and licensed in the UK when they've been here for longer than six months in any 12-month period - a provision under EU legislation that affords the same privilege to UK drivers on the Continent.
"Previously, police could only report any vehicles they'd found overstaying their welcome on foreign number plates to the DVLA for the agency to take action.
"It's the responsibility of every driver, no matter where they come from, to ensure they obey the UK road laws and that includes falling in line with taxation, registration and insurance, as well as those on safe driving."
Since January, there have been police and council operations carried out in Wolverhampton and Sandwell.
More than 30 cars were confiscated from streets in Wolverhampton during the first three months of the year with roads in the St Peter's, Park and Graiseley wards among those targeted.
In January police also picked up an Audi from the Wednesfield area, which was being driven despite not being taxed since April 2015.
Two cars parked on Bolton Road, close to Wednesfield Police Station, were seized by police for not being correctly taxed, meaning they cannot be on the road, even if they are parked. There has also been action taken in Sandwell in recent weeks with police joining forces with the council.
Among those taken was a van in Birmingham Street, Oldbury along with two cars in Parkhill Road and Valley Road in Smethwick.
A further three cars were towed away from Blossom Grove, Rowley Regis, and Griffiths Road and Huntingdon Road, in West Bromwich.
Pick-up trucks and cranes seized the vehicles before taking them away. Two abandoned vehicles – a Nissan Almera in Bridge Street, Wednesbury, and a Renault Megane in Holly Road, West Bromwich – were also removed by council wardens carrying out spot checks in the area.
It comes after it was revealed that more than 5,700 vehicles have been seized by Staffordshire Police in a crackdown on car insurance dodgers.
Cars Behind Bars has seen 5,732 cars, vans, motorcycles, mopeds, lorries and even a tractor seized – with more than 2,115 vehicles scrapped – since it was launched in May 2013.
While more than 135 higher-value uninsured vehicles have been sold off at auction with the proceeds going back into local communities in Staffordshire.
The registered keeper of any impounded vehicles will have to pay a £200 release fee and a £160 surety, plus storage fees, to get the vehicle back.
The DVLA will also issue the registered keeper with an out-of-court settlement demand for the unpaid tax which will lead to a prosecution if the keeper fails to pay up.
