Renew your vehicle tax online? tough it's broken

DH did his tax at the post office nearly a month ago without any problems. It seems odd not to have a disc in the car.

What I don't understand is why the unprecedented demand today?

Surely not everyone's road tax ran out yesterday?

Mine's got another seven months to run, and I won't be removing the disc from my windscreen until it expires, either!

Mine needs renewing and I'll have another go tomorrow. I think the unprecedented demand is probably due to people not going to the Post Office today because they will no longer have a cute little disc to take away with them.

If it needed renewing from today, why on earth were people leaving it until today? It's exactly the same issue as when people complain they can't get their tax form in on 31 Jan when the've know forever that that's the deadline.

I don't for the life of me understand why anyone leaves it till the last day to get their road tax? Everyone knows its due and you can buy it well ahead of the due date or even a few days is enough to know you have it in preparation for the end of the month. Madness that all these people are trying to do it online at the same time..

Just because some of us are eternally disorganised tanith

Guilty as charged. Have to be organised in my job, can't quite manage it at home

I wonder why more people have been "disorganised" this particular day/month though nightowl

I always renew online but there has never been a problem. As far as I can see there are no real changes as they haven't been physically checking you were displaying the disc for some time.

There was always a huge queue at the Post Office at the end of one month and the beginning of the other. Not surprising that there's a massive demand on line at the same time. I (polishing halo) usually do the deed on line quite soon after the reminder comes in - otherwise I might forget and leave the envelope under the mounds of correspondence waiting for the recycling bin.

I'm not sure whether the problem was that there were more of us 'disorganised' people this month Gracesgran or whether it was a problem with the website. When I tried to log in I noticed it said 'new system' and there was another option that said 'apply through old site' or words to that effect. Of course neither was working, nor was the 0300 phone number provided on the site. In fact when I tried the phone number later in the day I kept getting a recorded message saying 'you have dialled an incorrect number' - which I hadn't as it had worked earlier in the day but simply informed me that 'the system is down for maintenance'.

Anyway, I took myself off to the post office and they were very glad of my custom

I wonder if some people had been under the impression that you didn't have to pay road tax any more, having not bothered to read beyond 'tax discs to be abolished from 1st October'?

Perhaps those people suddenly woke up to the true position after recent publicity, and panicked...

No problem getting on to the site today and it's really fast.

They say that old tax discs will now become collectors items. I've just had a panic and looked in the car [the MOT people kindly gave me a new tax disc holder last time as mine was stuck on with sellotape] as I thought my collection of discs had been chucked. But I have found it somewhere else in the car. Now to see if I've got any more floating around....

You mean you've been keeping your old ones, Tegan? Oh dear, I've only got this year's one...

That's why the old one kept falling off the windscreen [it was getting so heavy]. I think I've got a very old motor bike tax disc in the garage; I'm just going to have a look. It's items that are automaticaly thrown away that become collectors items. I reckon mine are worth at least two and sixpence now ...

Tegan Oh I wish I hadn't told OH that the old disc's may become worth a few £s he is off to-morrow to root out old car papers in the shed,he is a man who throughs nothing official away he always used to slip his new disc in front of each other for many years.oh woe is me !!

We'll probably all be long gone before they're worth anything . Anyway, the more we all have the less they'll be worth. Better for him to only find a couple ....I thought I might make a picture out of mine [like they did with those old cigarette cards]

I hate doing stuff like this online. Renewed my tax at the post office in a few minutes with no hastle and they were pathetically grateful I had done that rather than go online. Many of our post office services are at risk because they are being taken elsewhere.

I have just been looking at a website which gave a link to the Warwickshire police website. You can download an Emergency Contact disc which you can fill in with your details and put in your tax disc holder. Medical information and your emergency contact information. It's actually on their twitter account but you can download it without twitter.

Thanks, durhamjen, I have printed one off this website.
www.westmercia.police.uk/news/news-articles/police-launch-emergency-contact-disc-as-alternative-to-tax-disc.html

I shall not be adding an address!

Yes, I agree, Shysal. I do not think my son would be pleased if I put his address on something that anyone could read, although the address is only visible when the disc is opened up.

They can't be read by anyone - as DJ said it's only visible when opened out. Think it's a great idea.