And finally…no-disc respect

The increased marked a 58 per cent rise on the previous year.

In the past 12 months, 99,307 vehicles have been affected according to the DVLA’s own figures.

In its defense, the licensing authority said that changes to tax discs rules had been widely publicised, and almost three million reminders are sent out by post each month.

However, the surge in clampings directly followed the scrapping of the old ‘pay and display’ style tax discs, jumping from 5,000 a month to 8,000 shortly after the change.

With release fees starting at £100 and doubling if not paid within 24 hours, storage fees can also be added on top.

Extra revenue by the DVLA is estimated to be in the region of £15m.

DVLA’s director of operations and customer services, Tony Ackroyd, said: “DVLA does not make a profit from clamping. We operate a comprehensive package of measures to make vehicle tax easy to pay but hard to avoid. In the past year, this has included writing to every registered vehicle keeper in the UK at least once to remind them that the vehicle tax rules have changed.”

The RAC has advised car owners to make sure their contact details are registered with the DVLA and are kept fully up to date.