Car tax prosecutions hit all-time high as 100,000 drivers fail to pay DVLA tariffs on time

The MoJ detailed how the prosecutions for motoring offences which caused death increased by 31 per cent in the latest year, from 357 in 2022 to 467 in 2023.

A further 40,600 offenders were disqualified by the penalty points system, while 367,800 offenders received points on their licence without disqualification.

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Notably, speeding offences fell by eight per cent with more than 203,500 guilty verdicts handed out to drivers.

When looking at motor insurance cases, the number of motorists found to be driving a vehicle without insurance fell to 71,458 last year from 76,390 in 2022.

However, keeping a vehicle without insurance saw a four-year high at 58,690 in 2023 compared to 40,392 in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice saw a 90 per cent increase in the number of drivers being found guilty of using a mobile device in a car.

The body recorded 13,332 offences in 2023 compared to 6,990 drivers found guilty in 2022.

Drivers could get six penalty points and a £200 fine if they are caught using a phone or any device that can send and receive data while driving or riding a motorcycle.

In total, the MoJ found 732,758 drivers were caught in motoring-related offences with 672,901 being found guilty.

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, explained that despite a high-profile change in the law, it seems many drivers are still “falling foul when it comes to using a mobile phone behind the wheel”.

He warned: “It is also concerning that driving without tax almost doubled in a year.

"While too early to tell if this rise is related to the cost of living, the high conviction rates should serve as a deterrent not to dodge paying for a virtual tax disc.”

Vehicle insurance offences, vehicle registration, excise licence offences and speed limit offences remained the most common motoring offences recorded by the Ministry.

Collectively, they accounted for 65 per cent of all motoring prosecutions in 2023.

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The total number of prosecutions for motoring offences increased by six percent las year from 694,000 in 2022 to 733,000 in 2023.