Unregistered etc. cars

The petition is entitled Remove all unregistered, uninsured, untaxed vehicles from the roads and the explanatory notes say

"Remove all unregistered, uninsured, untaxed vehicles from the roads, thereby delaying the need for congestion charging, PAYD pay as you drive schemes and making the roads inherently safer for all. Currently these anonymous vehicles are involved in more accidents and illegal traffic activity and NOTHING is being done."

Call me naive, but I'd have thought such cars were removed from the roads where found ... Searching for news articles on the subject I find a report from Stoke and Staffordshire about a clampdown on uninsured cars last July. And another report from Warwickshire saying that from 1st October 2005 police were allowed to seize vehicles they have good reason to believe are uninsured. Yet another article from Lancashire talks about an operation clamping down on untaxed cars last December.

So it seems to me likely that the police have the power to clamp down on these crimes, and presumably (I optimistically assume) do so where either it's causing particular problems or it seems like a particular efficient use of their time.

There's a distinct lack of major news stories about the harm the unregistered/untaxed/uninsured cars are causing the community as a whole. Either there's some major conspiracy suppressing the stories, or, erm, it's not a big problem. And I really don't think it's a big enough problem that a major clampdown would delay the need for congestion charges!