DVLA has launched a new advertising campaign in the highest evading areas across the UK reminding motorists of the real risk of failing to tax their vehicles on time.

The message is clear to motorists – if you do not tax your vehicle on time, DVLA will take action – ‘tax it, don’t risk it’.

The adverts are running on radio, poster sites, social media, digital channels and in print. The table below shows the areas across the UK where some of the highest numbers of enforcement actions took place in 2021:

Alongside automated enforcement penalties for registered keepers of untaxed vehicles, DVLA’s enforcement teams and wheelclamping partners also travel around the UK as part of their day-to-day activity taking action against untaxed vehicles. Over 98% of vehicles are correctly taxed but it’s right that we take action against those who continue to break the law.

This year’s campaign focuses on the clear message that untaxed cars are ‘hard to hide, easy to tax’ and for those that continue to flout the rules, the consequences include financial penalties, court action, clamping and even the loss of a car.

It’s never been easier to tax a vehicle – DVLA offers a range of options including the online vehicle tax service which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week or taxing at the Post Office and even spreading the cost using direct debit.

DVLA Chief Executive Julie Lennard said:

This campaign has a clear message for anyone that delays or avoids taxing their vehicle.

It really has never been easier to tax a vehicle, from using our 24/7 online service to direct debit options. We want motorists to understand that’s it not worth taking a risk and always tax their vehicles on time.

Motorists can go online, 24 hours a day, to tax a vehicle or check whether their vehicle tax is up to date.

Today (Wednesday 2 March), the government has launched a consultation on a national Cyber-Physical Infrastructure, an ecosystem of increasingly connected digital and physical systems with the potential to help accelerate innovation and secure the UK’s status as an innovation nation and a science superpower.

Advanced cyber-physical systems that sit across the digital and physical worlds are increasingly part of our everyday lives and economy.

Uses range from autonomous agriculture drones and collaborative robots working with factory operators, to reducing congestion in our urban traffic systems and planning responses to extreme weather events for our critical infrastructure.

This consultation explores the opportunities and challenges presented by the increasingly connected application of these systems, and how ecosystems of this technology could help UK innovators to reduce cost and risk to rapidly prototype, test, develop and implement ideas.

Through this consultation, the government is seeking challenge and insight from stakeholders including industry, academia, institutions and the wider public sector.

Science Minister George Freeman said:

The UK is emerging from the last few turbulent years with a more resilient and sustainable economic model – putting science, research and innovation at the heart of our post-Brexit vision for Global Britain’s role in the world.

Increasingly, advanced and connected digital and physical technologies are providing us with new tools to help us better predict and respond to future global challenges; drive UK leadership in science and research; and better commercialise innovations.

This consultation is a key step to realising these benefits for the UK, and I look forward to receiving guiding challenges and insights from the community.

The consultation has been informed by engagement with over 100 organisations to date supported by Digital Catapult, and builds upon the Robotics Growth Partnership’s recently published independent Vision for Cyber-Physical Infrastructure.

A national capability in Cyber-Physical Infrastructure would build upon and complement several other national strategies including the National Data Strategy, National Cyber Strategy 2022, the AI Strategy, Innovation Strategy and 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.

The consultation will be open for 10 weeks, closing on 11 May 2022.

The UK will commit a further £15.5 million to the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian (M4H) Innovation Programme, bringing the total amount given by the UK to the M4H programme to £30 million since 2017.

The move enables the GSMA’s vital work to deliver mobile and digital humanitarian assistance to those most in need.

It will help the GSMA M4H programme to reach over 17 million people facing global humanitarian crises such as displacement and hunger by 2025. By using new and proven technologies, we can help the world’s most vulnerable people during times of crisis.

The GSMA M4H programme has already helped over 8 million with life-enhancing and lifesaving mobile enabled services, helping them to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. With 274 million in people in need of humanitarian assistance globally, this work is urgently needed.

In a speech at MWC22 Barcelona, the UK’s Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford said:

Thanks to UK funding, GSMA’s programme has served over 8 million people with life-enhancing mobile-enabled services in humanitarian preparedness, response, and recovery.

I am delighted to announce that the UK has committed a further £15.5 million to scale-up the GSMA’s humanitarian work, so that we can reach over 17 million vulnerable people with digital humanitarian solutions.

It is clear to me, that if we are to address the devastating situation facing millions of people around the world in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, partnerships between the humanitarian and private sectors are essential.

The partnership between the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the GSMA M4H Innovation Programme will enable the FCDO to remain at the forefront of humanitarian interventions over the next three years.

The M4H Programme will build partnerships with the private sector and the global humanitarian community to benefit a total of 17.3 million people with mobile-enabled humanitarian preparedness, response, and recovery.

GSMA’s Chief Regulatory Officer, John Giusti, said:

When disaster strikes, it’s the world’s most vulnerable people who carry the greatest burden and suffer the greatest hardships, from displacement and financial devastation to loss of life. In these moments of crisis, mobile connectivity is a lifeline.

We must continue our efforts to ensure digital technology provides those affected by disaster with the ability to communicate with loved ones and receive essential information and services.

We thank the UK’s FCDO for its continued leadership and support in helping to reach the people who need mobile services the most.

The next phase of M4H will focus on five recognised humanitarian trends that mobile-enabled services have a role in addressing: increased demand for humanitarian cash and voucher assistance; increased frequency and intensity of natural hazard disasters; increased number of forcibly displaced people; increased global hunger and food insecurity; and the climate emergency.

New mobile-enabled technologies have already been used to avert humanitarian disaster and address the humanitarian need. The M4H Programme has helped:

• 200,000 Rwandan refugees and 500,000 people from marginalised groups to get better access to humanitarian cash and voucher assistance via mobile money

• Provide communities in Haiti with tailored, interactive information to help them prepare for and respond to extreme weather events. This platform has since been used to provide COVID-19 health information.

• Develop the digital ecosystem in Ethiopia, Burundi, and Nigeria, supporting mobile-enabled cash distribution. For those in crisis, it is a pathway to financial inclusion, dignity, and choice.

• Reach parents and caregivers of Syrian children affected by displacement and conflict with digital, physio-social support.

Notes to Editors

• The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Find out more here & pressoffice@gsma.com