CAR tax to be axed after 93 years! Now don’t get too excited.

The fact is some of us have come to love the tax disc. Many of us have made it collectable – a piece of paper to cherish all the years of ownership of our beloved vehicles, held in that wonderful tax disc holder on our windscreens.

Often, loaded with discs, it starts to split because we are too lazy to throw the old ones away. But there may be others amongst us who will be pleased to see it go.

The disc was introduced in 1921 but officials are say it is no longer needed.

Today the DVLA and police rely on an electronic register. The death of the tax disc was announced by George Osborne in last autumn’s budget statement and is due to take effect from October 2014.

The new system will, for the first time, allow people to pay by monthly direct debit (so long as they’re prepared to accept an extra five per cent administration fee). At present motorists have only the choice of paying every six or 12 months.

If you have any remaining months left on your current paper disc from October 1, you can either remove the disc from your car or display it until it expires.

If you sell your vehicle after October 1 and you have any months left on your disc, you will receive a refund for each full calendar month.

Frankly this isn’t going to make a great deal of difference to most drivers apart from removing a little bit of admin from their lives. I do know that some people have a mental attachment to the small disc in the window, usually a bit torn from trying to remove it from its perforations.

You will still be able to buy your road fund licence on line or at any Post Office. The only difference is that you won’t get an actual piece of paper. You will get a reminder in the post, as previously, a few weeks before it runs out and you can check how long you have left online until it expires.

The fact is that the majority of tax evaders are caught using police cameras that automatically check your number plate, rather than someone actually looking in your window.

Around 44m tax discs were issued last year and it’s thought that around 800,000 people were caught driving without paying. Where does all the money go?

Not on our roads that for sure! But don’t get me started on that again…