Falling incomes drive motorists to spread out tax

Tens of thousands of motorists are choosing to renew their motor tax for only a quarter of a year due to falling household incomes and the rising cost of the tax.

There were more than 100,000 more quarterly tax licences issued in 2012 (2,481,073) than in 2010 (2,357,600).

Half-year tax licences fell from 742,973 to 682,496 and only 1,448,517 vehicles were taxed for the full year in 2012, compared with 1,464,303 in 2010.