Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • Road Tax for Bicycles
  • GrahamS
    Full Member

    I was just looking to renew my “road tax” (Vehicle Excise Duty if you must) on my car and while I was wandering through the DirectGov road tax website I discovered that bicycles used for trade have to pay £66 tax.

    This may be old news, but I’ve never spotted this before and a couple of things struck me:

    a) Who checks if the bike is for trade?
    b) Do trade bicycles need to display tax discs in motorcycle-style holders?
    c) why the hell is it cheaper to tax a (private) band B car or a 600cc motorcycle than it is a “trade” bicycle? I thought the alleged point of this tax was to encourage greener choices?!

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    I thought the alleged point of this tax was to encourage greener choices?!

    I think thats your mistake. VED has never had anything to do with greenery, it’s just been manipulated recently to benefit greener vehicles and the people doing so have no brain.

    IanMunro
    Free Member

    How bizare! No idea what is.

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    I like it. Should be applied to all bikes (an exemption for joining up trails on mountainbikes would be needed obviously).

    boriselbrus
    Free Member

    I suspect you’ll find that “bicycle” is what the DVLA call a motorbike to distinguish it from a “tricycle” – moter trike. Certainly the tax disc on my VFR refers to it as a bicycle.

    simonfbarnes
    Free Member

    if VED were proportional to road wear then 40 tonne wagons would pay £1000000 pa and bikes 10p

    BigDummy
    Free Member

    an exemption for joining up trails on mountainbikes would be needed obviously

    Why is this obvious?

    aP
    Free Member

    Bicycles are zero emission so they’re exempt.

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    if VED were proportional to road wear then 40 tonne wagons would pay £1000000 pa and bikes 10p

    Actually you’re not far off, but then cars would get 10p too, as modern roads are designed and constructed considering only the HGV traffic they will encounter as car-caused damage is so minimal it’s considered unimportant.

    Smee
    Free Member

    Ohhh – this has the potential to turn into a huge ranting thread on proliferation of taxes….

    Stoner
    Free Member

    ummm, as far as I cen tell reading around the acts the trade licence actually applies to the business user who repairs or trades cycles and needs to use the road to test them or deliver them…I think.

    Perhaps an LBS with a trade licence could confirm?

    I dont think it applies to say, the sandwich delivery company who use a bike to do their drop offs…

    simonfbarnes
    Free Member

    car-caused damage is so minimal it’s considered unimportant.

    I believe it’s proportional to the cube of the axle loading, so cars still cause a lot more wear than bikes

    colande
    Free Member

    it’s vehicle tax,
    road tax doesnt exist, everyone pays for the roads through their council tax it is the local authorities responsibility and they also get subsided by the treasury
    so if like what happened to me some taxi driver shouting at you “get off the road! do you pay road tax!” then tell him where to go!!!

    oh i also have a car so yeah i do pay “road tax” 😀

    sorry a bit off the point

    Singlespeedpunk
    Free Member

    I would think the “Not over 450kg” might give it away. Even DH bikes are not that heavy!

    SSP

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Indeed it must mean motorcycles, mopeds and scooters. I was confused as it refers earlier to “motorcycles” as a distinct group. I naturally assumed “bicycles” meant, well, bicycles – but I forget that HM Gov doesn’t speak the same language as the rest of us – particularly regarding tax.

    Panic over. 😳

    Thread may now devolve into a general slagging of VED.

    Stoner
    Free Member

    GrahamS – Im pretty certain it does mean bicycles (bicycles are never motorcycles, they are one of the other). As I said, I think it refers to licencing the road user to use any bicycle that is part of the cycle trade business, not an individual bike.

    http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/ukpga_19940022_en_2#pt1-pb3-l1g11

    http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:dmjGx4TlJVsJ:www.dvla.gov.uk/media/pdf/forms/vtl301_170806%2520application%2520for%2520trade%2520licence.pdf+cycle+trade+licences&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    I believe it’s proportional to the cube of the axle loading, so cars still cause a lot more wear than bikes

    Not sure on the exact equation governing it, but I know (or I’ve been told) they dont bother calculating for cars at all.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Stoner: interesting – so do any of the bike shop employees on here actually have such a licence?

    pjt201
    Free Member

    Design Manual for Roads and Bridges the DFT guidance for road design (as used on all HA projects). HGVs, PSVs and OGVs only.

    Badger
    Free Member

    VED rates are now based on carbon dioxide output so I recently worked out the total CO2 output of cycling with a mate (biomedical scientist).

    We worked out that your average person (average on the basis of weight and fitness as it relates to efficiency of muscles converting the food into energy) puts out between 1.5 and 3.0 grams of Carbon per Kilometer.

    Compare that with the most efficient car on the road today which puts out 98g/km carbon.

    Anything below 100g/km has a VED of £0!

    So why not let cyclists pay Vehicle Excise Duty – I’d happily pay my £0 per year per bike!

    ;o)

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Actually it’s better than that because, unless you’re eating coal, the carbon that you release doesn’t come from “stored” carbon. It comes from carbon that is already part of the system. So arguably breathing is carbon neutral.

    Badger
    Free Member

    GrahamS yeah but we didn’t want to get into the full carbon cost of producing, transporting, preparing, cooking and eating cycling fuel (food / beer).

    I guess if I ran on locally produced bitter rather than imported lager I’d be greener?

    aracer
    Free Member

    Fairly sure you’re wrong, and it’s just dodgy wording, Stoner. After all if it does mean bicycles in the sense we mean, then where is the licence for motorbikes? Also fairly clear from the context that it’s a licence for a motor trader to allow him to take motorbikes on the road for test rides etc. when it’s not separately taxed (in the same way as he will have trade insurance), rather than something additional because it’s used for trade.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    I guess if I ran on locally produced bitter rather than imported lager I’d be greener

    Yep. Put it down as “Bio Fuel” on your tax return and see if you get a rebate.

    ziggy
    Free Member

    Well I’ve been in the bike trade for some years and it’s something I’ve never heard of. We obviously have insurance to cover test rides etc but I think as said above that refers to motorbikes.

    simonfbarnes
    Free Member

    It comes from carbon that is already part of the system

    except that, with modern agriculture and transportation, every gramme of carbon in your food has many grammes of fossil fuel burnt to grow and deliver it to you 🙁 [unless grown on your own allotment and carried home on foot]

    pantsonfire
    Free Member

    Singlespeedpunk – Member

    I would think the “Not over 450kg” might give it away. Even DH bikes are not that heavy!

    What happens if your riding one of those £69.99 full sussers from Halfrauds you’ll have to find somewhere to fit the tax disc 🙂

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    What happens if your riding one of those £69.99 full sussers from Halfrauds you’ll have to find somewhere to fit the tax disc

    If that’s the case than you don’t ride, you have a bike.

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