I turn up for a shift with a well known company and find vehicle has no tax disc… “Its OK, it was taxed online on Monday, you are fine to drive”. But it has no tax disc, which is one of the daily checks you ask us to carry out, I say. I refuse to take it out.
So they give me another unit, hey ho… No tax disc. “The vehicles have been off the road for a few months but have been taxed online, Monday and you have 5 days of grace”. I again refuse.
To be fair they gave me a third vehicle with Tax, but two hours wasted.
If I understand correctly, driving without displaying a tax disc is an offence for which I would get a fine, and the “grace period” (if it still exists) is only applicable if there has been no break in the vehicles taxation.
How do I know if the motor has been taxed without some proof?
But who is right.
What would you do…
it is the owner, not the driver that gets fined
and if done on-line you are still able to drive it
From the DVLA website:
"I have not received the tax disc. Can I use the vehicle without the tax disc displayed?
When you apply for a tax disc online or by using DVLA’s phone service you are able to legally continue to drive your vehicle for up to 5 days after the tax disc has expired while you wait for the new tax disc to arrive. This will only apply when you have applied for a new tax disc before the current one expires. You should continue to display the expired disc on your vehicle, until the new one arrives."
https://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/app/home/commonquestions#question9
So you were right not to drive the 2 vehicles offered.
So in the OPs case he was correct to refuse - since they had been off road for a few months. I wonder if they SORN’d them?
I refused to take one out on weds without a tax disc, all very well someone in an office saying it’s been done but how do you really know for sure??
map-man:
I refused to take one out on weds without a tax disc, all very well someone in an office saying it’s been done but how do you really know for sure??
click this link
taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPo … ution=e1s1
follow the on screen instructions, enter the reg number and the make of the vehicle, it will show if it is taxed/un-taxed/sorned/unsorned
hope this helps 
shuttlespanker:
map-man:
I refused to take one out on weds without a tax disc, all very well someone in an office saying it’s been done but how do you really know for sure??
click this link
taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPo … ution=e1s1
follow the on screen instructions, enter the reg number and the make of the vehicle, it will show if it is taxed/un-taxed/sorned/unsorned
hope this helps
Won’t stop you being prosecuted for failure to display in the OPs case.
Conor:
shuttlespanker:
map-man:
I refused to take one out on weds without a tax disc, all very well someone in an office saying it’s been done but how do you really know for sure??
click this link
taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPo … ution=e1s1
follow the on screen instructions, enter the reg number and the make of the vehicle, it will show if it is taxed/un-taxed/sorned/unsorned
hope this helps
Won’t stop you being prosecuted for failure to display in the OPs case.
this is why i didn’t answer the OP’s question 
see, we can all be ‘know-all little ■■■■■■■
shuttlespanker:
click this link
taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPo … ution=e1s1
follow the on screen instructions, enter the reg number and the make of the vehicle, it will show if it is taxed/un-taxed/sorned/unsorned
hope this helps
Very helpful link shuttlespanker, thanks. One for the bookmarks me thinks 
If the vehicle has been taxed on-line, there’s an option to receive an e-mail confirming this.
Had I been in that situation I would have requested a printed copy of said e-mail to carry with me. Other posters are correct to say that it is an offence to fail to display a valid tax disc, but an exemption does apply if the vehicle has been taxed on-line up to five days previously.
I certainly wouldn’t acept simply a verbal confirmation from the office; two minutes to print the e-mail off and the job’s done.
gnasty gnome:
If the vehicle has been taxed on-line, there’s an option to receive an e-mail confirming this.
Had I been in that situation I would have requested a printed copy of said e-mail to carry with me. Other posters are correct to say that it is an offence to fail to display a valid tax disc, but an exemption does apply if the vehicle has been taxed on-line up to five days previously.
I certainly wouldn’t acept simply a verbal confirmation from the office; two minutes to print the e-mail off and the job’s done.
Have you ever seen the email you get? No registration number or anything else of any use. Just an email confirming you taxed something Pointless. I’ve taken to printing some of the pages as i go through the process … had quite a fews discs never turned up over the last 6 months.
Does not matter if you applied online or not, it is an absolute offence to fail to exhibit (display) a current VED disc. £60 non endorsable.
shep532:
Have you ever seen the email you get? No registration number or anything else of any use. Just an email confirming you taxed something Pointless. I’ve taken to printing some of the pages as i go through the process … had quite a fews discs never turned up over the last 6 months.
Must confess I haven’t,tend to request it then delete it when the disc turns up, but then again most of mine are for motorcycles. Surprised that you have had discs go astray, I’ve been using the on-line service for some years with 100% success so far; we’re talking about 3 cars and 6 bikes here between me and the missus so it’s not just a one-a-year thing.
Personally I’d be tempted to check with your neighbours to see if they’ve had mail go astray; as you well know these letters are relatively easy to spot if you know what you’re looking for, might be a rogue postie, sadly it’s not unusual.
Conor:
Won’t stop you being prosecuted for failure to display in the OPs case.
Using without a current VEL or failing to display a current are both Use/Cause/Permit offences. So if the driver in the OP had taken either of the first two out, he commits the offence of using a motor vehicle on a road without displaying a current VEL and the owner in this instance would have caused it because he told him to take it out and had some authority over him. If it was a mate lending you a motor that had no VEL displayed he would be permitting its use and again commits the offence whilst the driver would again be using.
iDriver
andy187:
it is the owner, not the driver that gets fined
and if done on-line you are still able to drive it
Wrong.
The driver can get a FPN for failure to display.
rambo19:
andy187:
it is the owner, not the driver that gets fined
and if done on-line you are still able to drive it
Wrong.
The driver can get a FPN for failure to display.
I disagree with this and suggest it is the registered user or keeper.
Five O is a police forum and one of their more outspoken regulars posted this:
Tax discs are not a Police matter and certainly not a council matter its a DVLA matter, its a Tax not a criminal or traffic matter, we the police DO NOT prosecute any vehicle excise offences we simply put a form into DVLA and if they want to prosecute they do so on their own, nothing to do with us.
Definitely Do consider writing in with a photo copy of your disc and an explanation. I certainly would not pay up. Your decision!
If it is a private warden they will have an office in the town somewhere go see them…Jobsworths they all are!
Since this was written, the 5 day period has begun to cope with increasing use of online applications. If the vehicle is sorned and a tax disc applied for, then obviously that cancels the SORN and the VEL will run from the beginning of the month.
And if you read the quote from DVLA, it states that if you apply online, you may use the vehicle providing you display the outdated one.
I would asume that, when the boss took them off the road ( sorned ) he sent the old discs back to get a refund…so the driver was right not to take the vehicles out because he never had any old discs to display.
And the fact of the matter is…the owner of the vehicle is the one who gets the fine.