Well, the old way wasn't free.
Every hour, 7 days a week, an HGV full of paperwork turned up at a dedicated paper handling centre. And that paper was then processed, for around 30 million vehicles a year.
I can well believe it might have cost a couple of million a week to run. Or more.
So maybe the digital service is not costing taxpayers more.
I doubt that there's any correlation between compliance rates and vehicle duty.
I'd be more concerned at the likely increase in uninsured vehicles. If it's not taxed I'm betting there's a good chance it's also not insured. And that will cost us in premiums from profit making insurance companies.
So it would be a good thing if the clever chaps at DVLA who digitised the service for complaint folk could also figure out how to digitise detecting non-compliance.
Will
Ah, the numbers are
here if anyone would care to work it out. (I'm a) on a phone & b) leaving on a jet plane
