online tax discs

my tax disc is due at the end of this month and I am methodical enough to make sure that my MOT and car insurance renewal are all at different times of the year so that there is never a problem getting my new tax disc.

I received my renewal reminder in the week and I have put together in one place all the papers I need to buy my new tax disc, namely car registration document, insurance policy, current MOT and a cheque made out to the Post Office for £165.00 – sorted!

I walk to the Post Office to find it closed. some kind of refurbishment works – damn!

go home, get in the car and drive a couple of miles to the next Post Office, park the car half a mile away – oh, OK what do I expect on a Saturday morning? I walk to the Post Office and join a queue which is about a mile long and snails pace slow.

by this time, I am beginning to receive those witchlike sense of doom jangles in my head – you know “You ain’t ever gonna get this disc you know!” “something is almost bound to be wrong with the papers” (last time this happened, my insurance company had written the wrong registration number on my policy).

anyway, I get to the desk and the chap says – “we cannot issue this disc until next Monday!” well, this is the point where I lost the plot and my temper.

the window between receiving your reminder and the date your disc expires is too small anyway.

now in this day and age, I really don’t understand why we cannot renew the tax disc online. my insurance details are with the insurance company (and a lot of people buy insurance online anyway) and they can either have some link to the DVLA or issue me with a specific reference number. the same goes for the MOT, my details should be with the garage that issued it and this can be verified by them electronically. the DVLA already has the details of my car and my ownership so what’s the problem?

and while I am at it, why cannot traffic wardens help carry one’s shopping?