937:
907:
846:
762:
736:
591:
437:
377:
351:
285:
233:
197:
109:. In 1961 major changes occurred, with a redesign of the printed pattern – for better security – and a new system of monthly issues, rather than the standard December expiry of the past. From then on, the expiry month was displayed. From 2001, watermarking and embossing were added to prevent fraud.
157:
which were required to be displayed in every
British vehicle since 1 January 1921. They were issued with two possible lengths of duration: one year (annual) or three months (sometimes referred to as a quarterly licence). Quarterly licences were issued on coloured paper to differentiate between the
104:
was cut or folded to create the main circular shape. Colour printing was introduced in 1923. Advertising on the reverse of the disc was allowed from 1924, with companies such as Shell Oil placing advertisements. This was abolished in 1926, after which the reverse showed text relating to the refund
137:
was introduced. A design variant was adopted in Wales in the early 1970s with the month expressed as a number instead of by name and other details printed additionally in Welsh. This was introduced when the government decided that all official documentation in Wales would be bilingual, but it was
112:
The last tax discs in the United
Kingdom expired on 30 September 2015, but the requirement to display them ended on 1 October 2014. In the last month before the abolition of tax discs came into force, the DVLA issued some new tax discs on printer paper, to save costs.
466:
The 1938 series of Annual licence discs were a minor design revision to the 1932 series, and were issued from 1 January 1938 to July 1950. The background pattern text was revised to read "Mechanically propelled vehicle licence", instead of "Road Fund
Licence".
46:
A tax disc was a circular certificate that vehicle owners had to place on the front windscreen of road vehicles, as visual proof that vehicle tax has been paid. Similar systems exist in some other countries, such as in
Ireland, but the use of
105:
available for unexpired licences. Perforations were used from 1938, enabling a better fit within the standard disc holders; however, the perforations were missing from 1942 to 1952, perhaps as a result of equipment damage during the
479:
were first issued on 1 January 1951 as a revision to the previous series. The emblems of
Regions of the United Kingdom were replaced with the expiry year and the arrangement of the expiry date was modified to increase
647:
Expiry year flanked between issuing stamp area; circumference text: “Vehicles (Excise) Act, 1949. - Licence for a mechanically propelled vehicle.”; background text: “Mechanically propelled vehicle licence”
527:
Cross-shaped layout with expiry year in black; circumference text: “Vehicles (Excise) Act, 1949. - Licence for a mechanically propelled vehicle.”; background text: “Mechanically propelled vehicle licence”
313:
This
Licence Card must be exhibited in the regulation position on the vehicle when in use upon a public road (See Note in the Licence Registration Book). It must be destroyed on expiry unless renewed at a
138:
judged that the print size would be too small for the name of month to be abbreviated and displayed in two languages. Later, this design with the month expressed as a number was adopted throughout the UK.
96:
on the vehicle came into force on 1 January 1921. Initially, tax discs were issued for one year (annual) to 31 December, or for three months (quarterly) to 24 March, 30 June, 30 September or 31 December.
948:
744:
Coloured ribbon with month-year expiry date; circumference text reads: “This licence expires on last day of month shown”. Colour sequence: red for leap years, then blue, brown, green.
446:
125:
has varied over the decades since its introduction on 1 January 1921. Among the factors for its evolution are the changing legislation and the increase in security features to mitigate
29:
891:
Monotonic shading of roughly â…“-width sides, with expiry date (DD:MM:YY) and 4 rows of coloured dotted lines in pale colour; bottom-most line split by stamp area in metallic ink.
830:
gradual shading and stamp area in metallic ink, with expiry date (DD:MM:YY) in pale colour; 4 rows of black dotted lines in pale colour; bottom-most line split by stamp area.
1368:
825:
Expiry date (DD:MM:YY) over colour ribbon with continuous wavy text “DVLC”; two elliptical holes and “EXPIRES” above the ribbon, and “DVLC” embossing.
608:
were first issued on 1 January 1957 and continued until the replacement of quarter-year licences with four-month licences on 1 October 1960.
214:
This
Licence Card must be exhibited in the regulation position on the vehicle when in use upon a public road . It must be given up to the
133:
to verify its authenticity with the vehicle it was registered to, and to increase efficiency of renewal applications as renewal via the
886:
Solid colour expiry date (MM YY) over colour ribbon with wavy text “EXPIRES”, with two elliptical holes near edge and “DVLA” embossing.
814:
First issue of purple-coloured licences since 1927 (annual). Subsequently purple would replace brown in the 4-yearly colour sequence.
1315:
1006:
type over colour background with wavy text “EXPIRES” alternating between gold and white, with two star holes above the day and year.
484:. Licence discs issued for 1954 to 1956 removed the requirement for specifying the colour of the vehicle. A diagonal colour band
1424:
924:
Final year of green-coloured licences to date. From 1999 discs, colour sequence became 3-yearly: red/pink, blue, purple.
48:
1360:
1337:
566:
Certain issues were misprinted with the 1953 expiry date and were overprinted with 1954 on the top quadrant.
1236:
House of
Commons Environmental Audit Committee (2008-07-22). "Vehicle Excise Duty as an environmental tax".
218:
or to the
Registration Authority on expiry. A new licence cannot be issued until the old one is surrendered.
32:
The long history of vehicle tax discs has made issues, such as this example issued in
January 1956.
1390:
43:, particularly of those issued in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1921 to 30 September 2014.
488:
was used for licences for 1951 and 1952, and a vertical band for the remainder of the series.
202:
Cross-shaped layout with emblems of Regions of the United Kingdom; Circumference text reads: “
297:— Cross-shaped layout with emblems of Regions of the United Kingdom and vertical colour band
1307:
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8:
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85:
79:
55:
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These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the
445:
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the
1471:
1048:
Tax discs issued from 1 September 2004 have a black expiry date with gold outline.
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122:
93:
75:
40:
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Refund of Duty and Non-transferability clause; lower half inverse in colour.
302:
205:
1021:
Refund of Duty and Non-transferability clause; lower half inverse in black.
106:
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Certain discs expiring in 1993 retain old features from the 1987 series.
20:
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Monotonic shading with white boxes for details and coloured stamp area.
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Early discs were made from plain paper, without perforations; the
28:
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651:
Surrender of Licences (Vehicles (Excise) Act, 1949, Section 12.)
531:
Surrender of Licences (Vehicles (Excise) Act, 1949, Section 12.)
747:
Surrender of Licences (Vehicles (Excise) Act, 1962, Section 9.)
59:
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1012:: Barcode in middle with foil strip and two elliptical holes.
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1042:
869:
808:
191:
51:
has rendered tax discs redundant in the United Kingdom.
1055:
As before, but expiry date in black with gold outline.
326:: First issue of annual licences with colour printing
54:
The word is a combination of the acronym "VEL", for
1463:
666:The type size of the expiry year was increased.
92:in 1889, but the requirement to display a paper
801:Final year of brown-coloured licences to date.
1203:"10 things we didn't know this time last week"
1177:
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833:Refund of Duty; lower half inverse in colour.
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1361:"2015 tax discs selling for thousands online"
966:Vehicle Licence (expiring from 2003 to 2015)
770:Expiry date (DD:MM:YY) over coloured ribbon.
1433:Tennant, Chris, & Hitchings, Ed; (2012)
1352:
158:two periods of duty they were issued for.
129:. The latest series (2003) incorporated a
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164:Annual Road Fund Licence (1921 and 1922)
16:Study and collection of vehicle tax discs
872:
811:
27:
19:For the study of flags and signals, see
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308:— Background text: “Road Fund Licence”
69:
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700:Annual Vehicle Licence (1961–present)
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249:Annual Road Fund Licence (1921-1931)
1393:. National Numbers House. 2004-01-15
1371:from the original on 6 December 2019
1318:from the original on 6 December 2019
1244:
1220:
1437:UK: Revenue Society. Catalogues by
614:Annual Vehicle Licence (1957-1960)
494:Annual Vehicle Licence (1951-1956)
301:Expiring 31 Dec. . … Licence for a
204:Expiring 31 Dec. . … Licence for a
13:
311:Text within circular ring reads: “
212:Text within circular ring reads: “
49:automatic number plate recognition
14:
1488:
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1359:Brady, Andrew (14 October 2014).
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1002:Gold expiry date (DD MM YY) in
39:is the study and collection of
1435:Tax Discs of the British Isles
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1128:As before, but expiry date in
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773:Refund of Duty in plain text.
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303:mechanically propelled vehicle
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206:mechanically propelled vehicle
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1:
1409:
1314:. Swansea. 22 February 2016.
1238:The Stationery Office Limited
299:— Circumference text reads: “
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949:banknote specification table
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153:was the first design of the
88:was first introduced in the
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1417:Trade and Collect Tax Discs
1338:"Paper tax discs abolished"
382:Surrender of Licences text
10:
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62:. Collectors are known as
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788:Minor design revisions.
1457:History of the Tax Disc
1269:History of the Tax Disc
121:The design of British
56:vehicle excise licence
33:
1308:"A Moment In History"
1132:type and black only.
31:
1391:"Barcoded Tax Discs"
70:History of tax discs
1427:excerpts available
1415:Hill, Tony; (2006)
767:31:10:77 - 30:9:87
714:Lifespan of design
263:Lifespan of design
86:vehicle excise duty
80:Vehicle excise duty
356:Advertisement for
34:
1425:978-1-873313-10-7
1365:Motoring Research
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41:vehicle tax discs
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1419:UK: Collecticus
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819:31:10:87 - 1993
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741:Jan 61 - May 78
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1395:. Retrieved
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1209:. 2004-02-13
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324:January 1923
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155:licence disc
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1397:29 November
1297:Hill, p. 14
1015:Lower half:
1000:Upper half:
959:2003 series
889:Lower half:
884:Upper half:
828:Lower half:
823:Upper half:
693:1961 series
606:1957 series
600:1957 series
477:1951 series
471:1951 series
462:1938 series
457:1932 series
316:Post Office
242:1923 series
216:Post Office
151:1921 series
145:1921 series
64:velologists
21:Vexillology
1477:Collecting
1466:Categories
1410:References
1375:6 December
1344:22 January
1322:6 December
1279:Hill, p. 8
1250:Hill, p. 7
1226:Hill, p. 5
1213:2008-06-27
482:legibility
361:Motor Oils
294:Dec. 1931
74:See also:
1207:bbc.co.uk
486:overprint
290:Jan. 1923
1369:Archived
1340:. Gov.uk
1316:Archived
986:Remarks
983:Reverse
980:Obverse
723:Remarks
720:Reverse
717:Obverse
634:Remarks
631:Reverse
628:Obverse
514:Remarks
511:Reverse
508:Obverse
272:Remarks
269:Reverse
266:Obverse
184:Remarks
181:Reverse
178:Obverse
135:internet
131:bar code
102:selvedge
94:tax disc
37:Velology
1472:Hobbies
1154:Purple
1111:Purple
1075:Purple
1031:Purple
1004:Univers
902:Purple
841:Purple
809:Purple
674:Orange
541:Orange
422:Orange
392:Purple
372:Orange
223:(None)
1429:online
1423:
1010:Centre
919:Green
796:Brown
757:Green
731:Green
684:Green
586:Green
574:Brown
522:Green
412:Green
280:Green
117:Design
60:-ology
58:, and
1189:Notes
1178:Blue
1175:2015
1163:2014
1151:2013
1142:Blue
1139:2012
1130:Arial
1120:2011
1108:2010
1099:Blue
1096:2009
1084:2008
1072:2007
1063:Blue
1060:2006
1040:2005
1028:2004
994:Blue
991:2003
929:1996
916:1995
899:1994
870:Blue
867:1993
855:1992
838:1990
806:1987
793:1986
783:Blue
780:1985
754:1983
728:1967
681:1960
671:1959
661:Blue
658:1958
639:1957
583:1956
571:1955
561:Blue
558:1954
548:1953
538:1952
519:1951
432:Blue
429:1931
419:1930
409:1929
399:1928
389:1927
369:1926
359:Shell
346:Blue
343:1925
331:1924
277:1923
228:1922
192:None
189:1921
1421:ISBN
1399:2009
1377:2019
1346:2014
1324:2019
1166:Red
1123:Red
1087:Red
1043:Red
932:Red
858:Red
642:Red
604:The
551:Red
475:The
402:Red
334:Red
149:The
84:The
78:and
209:.”
107:war
1468::
1367:.
1363:.
1310:.
1255:^
1205:.
320:”
306:.”
292:to
220:”
66:.
1441:.
1401:.
1379:.
1348:.
1326:.
1240:.
1216:.
951:.
449:.
23:.
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