The number of unlicensed vehicles on the road has tripled since the paper tax disc was abolished, government figures show. The data, published every two years, shows that the government potentially lost out on £107m from 755,000 unlicensed vehicles last year. The RAC said the decision to get rid of the paper tax disc three years ago has proved "costly". The measure was meant to have saved the Treasury £10m a year, the RAC said. Figures from the Department for Transport show that 1.8% of vehicles were unlicensed in 2017 compared with 0.6% on 2013.

"The principle of abolishing the tax disc to introduce greater efficiencies has, so far, evidently failed," said RAC public affairs manager Nicholas Lyes. "It appears that having a visual reminder was an effective way to prompt drivers into renewing their car tax - arguably more drivers are now prepared to try their luck and see if they can get away with not paying any vehicle tax at all, or are simply forgetting to tax their vehicle when they are due to."

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