MORE untaxed vehicles have been removed from the district’s streets as part of a drive to clamp down on car owners who disobey the law.

Uttlesford District Council is also keeping up its focus on littering with the recent issuing of a fixed penalty notice for a motorist who threw a cigarette end out of her car.

An untaxed vehicle parked in Bullfields, Newport, was reported to the enforcement team. The car, a Peugeot 406, had not been taxed since March. It was moved and then scrapped.

While investigating the car, officers found a second vehicle in Bullfields which was also untaxed. Although this vehicle, an Audi A4 Quatro, had a Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN) it was parked on the public highway, which is against the law. The car as taken away and the owner agreed to pay a �100 release fee. He has subsequently retaxed the vehicle.

Meanwhile in Takeley, an abandoned Renault Megane Scenic was reported in Sycamore Close. Checks were carried out with police and the DVLA which revealed the car’s tax had expired in 2009 and its SORN had expired in 2010. The car was removed.

Further investigation revealed the registered keeper had moved to Harlow without informing the DVLA. Once he was located, he paid a �200 fixed penalty notice.

The council has also recently issued a �75 fixed penalty notice to a woman spotted throwing a cigarette butt out of the window of her car in Radwinter Road, Saffron Walden.

A council spokesman said: “It is important that residents do report untaxed vehicles to us so we can take the necessary action.

“Untaxed vehicles can be linked to other car offences, such as having no insurance or MOT and to mechanical defects which could make the vehicle dangerous.

“If a vehicle is registered off-road, then it must be kept off-road. The district council has a responsibility to keep the streets safe and clean and we will investigate every report of an abandoned car we receive.

“With regard to the littering incident, where the council has evidence of an individual not disposing of their rubbish correctly we will take steps to address this, as the fixed penalty notice demonstrates. There really is no excuse when it comes to correctly disposing of rubbish.”