Annual SORN declaration to be scrapped

Government red tape slashing to ease stressed owners of off-road and project cars.

Transport Secretary Justine Greening announced the initiative on the 15 December as part of the wider Road Transport Red Tape Challenge – the government-wide process to delete unnecessary, burdensome and overcomplicated regulation.

What does the new SORN initiative mean then, exactly?

For SORN, Department for Transport is to “improve the regulation surrounding the notification process for vehicles not in use on the road (Statutory Off Road Notification or SORN). Once drivers have notified the DVLA that their vehicle is SORN, they will no longer have the burden of annual SORN renewal”.

We are awaiting official clarification of the initiative’s workings once a vehicle’s declared keeper as recorded on the V5C registration document changes. Plus, when it will come into force? We’ll update you as soon as we can.

Also announced at the same time is the scrapping of the regulation requiring motorists to hold a paper counterpart to their driving licence by 2015 – saving drivers up to £8m.

In the press release, Justine Greening said;

“Motorists shouldn’t have to keep numerous bits of paper just to prove they can drive and have bought insurance – we live in digital age and we need to embrace that.

“Reducing the number of rules and regulations in our life is absolutely vital to removing barriers to economic growth and increasing individual freedoms. This whole process just proves that there’s so much sitting on our statute books that at the very least needs a good spring clean or can be scrapped entirely.”

Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk said:

“I’m delighted that so many motoring regulations will be scrapped or improved, particularly those that affect business.

“The Red Tape Challenge has built up real momentum since it was launched in April. Overall, of over 1200 regulations considered so far, we have agreed to scrap or improve well over 50 per cent.

“We have already published regulations covering 12 themes, and there are 13 themes to come, so there remains huge scope for reducing the burden of regulation on business and individuals even further.”

Full the full press release go to the DfT site here

This entry was posted on Friday, December 16th, 2011 at 10:57 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.