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Taxes and fines in the UK Taxes and fines in the UK
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Travellers' questions that don't fit anywhere else This is an opportunity to ask any question, and post any notice you wish that doesn't fit into one of the other sections.
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 18 Apr 2012
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Am very surprised you've got away with riding it around Croatia for the last 4 years without being stopped - thought you were supposed to reregeister the bike there after having it there for 6 months. There is a reciprocal rule that states any vehicle being registered in 1 EU member state but used on the roads of another must comply with whatever MOT/Road tax rules exist in the state of registration, but that once it's been in the new state for > 6 months it must get registered etc there.

Also surprised (if this turns out to be the case) that you haven't been busted in the UK. If you haven't, you can bring it back to the UK but you'll have to have a pre-booked MoT to go to as soon as you step off the ferry - there are plenty of threads about this on the HUBB.

If they catch up with you, I guess they could fine you for not SORN-ing it, plus (at least in theory) unpaid tax for the time it was being used on Croatian roads without UK tax but without Croatian registration?
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  #2  
Old 18 Apr 2012
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Uhm....Croatia is NOT part of the EU , ( at least not for another year or so).

that's not quite the issue though, how on earth do you go about insuring a foreign (un-)registered bike there....(if at all) ?
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  #3  
Old 18 Apr 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grizzly7 View Post
Hi

Its still on UK plates then, and you've never imported it into Croatia, new plates, import duties, etc?

From the UK Govt website

"There’s no way out" (they must like a bit of drama )

"If you don’t make a SORN or tax your vehicle you could be stopped by the police.You’ll get an automatic penalty of £80, as well as paying for a new tax disc.
You could also get a County Court Judgment against you, and be fined a minimum of £1,000.
The maximum penalty for making a false SORN, when the vehicle is actually used or kept on a public road, is £5,000 and imprisonment."


From What if you don't tax or make a SORN : Directgov - Motoring
If I can paraphrase that, you can play fast and loose with the rules but don't lie, especially not in writing i.e. a SORN statement.
If you are interested, see what Old Git Ray (a retired policeman) has recently said about all things related to UK regs within the sticky in Trip Paperwork.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ilesmark View Post
Am very surprised you've got away with riding it around Croatia for the last 4 years without being stopped - thought you were supposed to reregeister the bike there after having it there for 6 months. There is a reciprocal rule that states any vehicle being registered in 1 EU member state but used on the roads of another must comply with whatever MOT/Road tax rules exist in the state of registration, but that once it's been in the new state for > 6 months it must get registered etc there.

Also surprised (if this turns out to be the case) that you haven't been busted in the UK. If you haven't, you can bring it back to the UK but you'll have to have a pre-booked MoT to go to as soon as you step off the ferry - there are plenty of threads about this on the HUBB.

If they catch up with you, I guess they could fine you for not SORN-ing it, plus (at least in theory) unpaid tax for the time it was being used on Croatian roads without UK tax but without Croatian registration?
I am not as surprised about what goes on in the Balkans.
Croatia has only just joined the EU and it was not all that long ago that they had a civil war under way; rules don't mean a lot in those circumstances.
We haven't done suchlike for years (civil war that is), so here in the UK we like to have a load of rules that we can follow (or not).
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  #4  
Old 19 Apr 2012
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UK plates, No insurance, No local registration, No problem
Croatia is a dream for motorcycles with foreign plates. The official police policy is to not chase motorcycles with foreign plates. This means that you can only be stopped if you actually stop (or crash). I was in heavy traffic once and could not get away, so I paid a spot fine of about 30 GBP. The cops are open to negotiations. They said I ran a red light (It was YELLOW), but we settled on a charge of "obstructing a pedestrian" (??) which had a lower fine. The cops were very friendly and actually wanted to chat with me about my trips.

This policy will eventually change and is thoroughly abused by all the Germans and Austrians motorcyclists that come to the coast during the summer. Until then, come this way and enjoy the amazing coast and total lack of traffic enforcement.
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Old 19 Apr 2012
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Originally Posted by k1200 RS View Post
No insurance, No local registration, No problem.
MOT and road tax are petty and incidental, but I can't condone you riding around without insurance. And if they catch you without that in the UK you WILL be in the sh1t.
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  #6  
Old 19 Apr 2012
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Originally Posted by Giacomo View Post
Uhm....Croatia is NOT part of the EU , ( at least not for another year or so).
Apologies, I thought they signed up at the start of this year.
Certainly they joined NATO a while back which is always used as a precursor to joining the EU.

Quote:
Originally Posted by k1200 RS View Post
Croatia is a dream for motorcycles with foreign plates. The official police policy is to not chase motorcycles with foreign plates. This means that you can only be stopped if you actually stop (or crash). I was in heavy traffic once and could not get away, so I paid a spot fine of about 30 GBP. The cops are open to negotiations. They said I ran a red light (It was YELLOW), but we settled on a charge of "obstructing a pedestrian" (??) which had a lower fine. The cops were very friendly and actually wanted to chat with me about my trips.

This policy will eventually change and is thoroughly abused by all the Germans and Austrians motorcyclists that come to the coast during the summer. Until then, come this way and enjoy the amazing coast and total lack of traffic enforcement.
Sounds like the Balkans of the 1990s.

but take care on those coastal roads; they used to be surfaced with limestone aggregate which is as polished and slippery as a slippery thing can be (limestone is not permitted in road surfaces in the UK); add in rain and/or a bit of oil on the surface and you have an even slicker surface.
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  #7  
Old 19 Apr 2012
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Originally Posted by k1200 RS View Post
This policy will eventually change as is thoroughly abused by all the Germans and Austrians motorcyclists that come to the coast during the summer.
Bloody German hooligan motorcyclists!! Ruining it for all the other hooligan motorcyclists in the world who want to go to Croatia and ride like a hooligan!
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  #8  
Old 19 Apr 2012
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Originally Posted by Nath View Post
Bloody German hooligan motorcyclists!! Ruining it for all the other hooligan motorcyclists in the world who want to go to Croatia and ride like a hooligan!

Can you imagine....the sheer nerve some people have, trust those Germans to ride road legal and insured vehicles in someone else's country.....thereby avoiding finishing up behind bars, (in Croatia, just like anywhere else in europe, Balkans or not...)

It's good to know that I don't need to bother taking my green card with me every weekend when I go riding in Croatia....obviously it's not like it gets checked at the border anyway...stupid of me to even think of paying for it in the first place..

Oh and I must seriously be meeting the wrong Croatian policemen ..... as well as probably dreaming about the occasional spot checks (where the aforementioned green card was certainly asked for), as well as the zero tolerance for drunk driving..... etc etc...
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Old 21 Apr 2012
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Hmm, you seem a little angry? Maybe I cut you up or scraped your paintwork or something last time I was riding in Croatia about 6 years ago, whilst riding drunk on my non-road-legal bike without insurance? etc..
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Old 21 Apr 2012
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Hi Nath.....Hehe.....just taking the piss.... let me know next time you're down here and we can go and ride around like hooligans together.

Oh and extremely great blog by the way, I was up last night reading it all.

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