A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

I was reading elsewhere of a common complaint:

My tax disc was stolen again a couple of weeks ago. This time instead of just taking the tax disc, the pikey kids took the entire tax disc holder. (Probably because I’d replaced the “insecure” holder with a new one that has six hex screws holding the disc in – but still only one bolt attaching the holder to the bike).

I see this sort of theft mentioned a lot, and realised that my solution after having disposed of a rusty tax-disc holder, might also have practical security deterrent advantages. It’s not a perfect deterrent, of course, but it may help.

/users/alecm/albums/dropdata/tax-disc.jpg

My method:

My tax-disc is fixed to the inside of my right-hand hand guard; it’s stuck there using two side-by-side sheets of exterior-grade PVC sellotape, meant (if I remember right) for use on greenhouses.

You can just make it out in this photo; not all (few?) bikes have handguards, but maybe the same idea is applicable elsewhere?

Getting it off would be possible, but the tape has a greenish tinge, is stretchy but almost untearable, strongly adhesive, and unless you are very careful to rip both strips of tape off together, you’ld tear the tax-disc messily in half.

Next year I intend to try taping it thusly:

/users/alecm/albums/dropdata/tax-disc-tape.png

…with three narrower strips of tape (green) snipped by four cuts into a jigsaw. That should make it very unattractive to nick. The important thing will be to cut the tape, not the tax-disc, otherwise bits of it could fall-off!

Comments

12 responses to “A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?”

  1. alecm
    re: A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

    accidental observation: the right hand-guard gets better weather protection, and doesn’t tend to flood with water when parked-up in a rainstorm.

  2. Paul Jakma
    re: A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

    Solution is pretty simple, keep the disc in your wallet.

    Mind you, over here (Ireland), you’re not required to display a tax disc on a motorbike. If you must in the UK, then this might not be an acceptable solution. That said, you could hardly call the above “displayed”, is there much difference between hiding it and having to point it out to a cop or taking it out of your wallet? The outcome will likely be same depending on how nitpicky/grumpy the cop is.. 😉

    –paulj

  3. alecm
    re: A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

    It’s a dark-grey area; in the UK it is required to display the tax disc even though it’s all computerised nowadays; if you keep it in your wallet then there is the chance of running into some plod who’s having a bad day and who decided to do something about it.

    That may sound petty, but it does happen. I had a car headlight go pop in a rainstorm, 10 minutes later got pulled by a policeman with a probationer while driving through Reading, explained it all very carefully and got stuck with a Vehicle Rectification Form thing – they don’t fine you for having a fault with your car if you produce a stamped form saying “it got fixed” at a police station within a few days.

    However, to get the form stamped costs 15 quid at a local MOT/Car Inspection depot.

    (sigh)

  4. alecm
    re: A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

    Another biker, on the ukgser.com forum, suggests “double-sided tape to stick it to the plastic, and another layer over the top to waterproof it” – which also sounds like a good idea.

  5. Alan Burlison
    re: A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

    Easier still, just buy something that’s designed for the job:

    http http://www.secur-i-disc.co.uk/motorcycle.htm

  6. bartb
    re: A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

    You could of course cut the disc in strips from top to bottom, while cutting the tape in strips left-right; that way bits of it can’t fall off while it becomes harder for someone to nick the whole thing…

  7. alecm
    re: A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

    Neat, although one of those holders at least is of the bolt-on variety, where someone will nick the entire unit as described in the posting which kicked-off the discussion.

    The adhesive solution for £1.75 is sensible, but then again that’s about the cost of the roll of tape I bought, and I have a couple of metres left after using it for several applications.

  8. Robin Wilton
    re: A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

    Presumably the kids are nicking it so as to cash in the remaining credit on the disc at the nearest Post Office. I’ve heard of the same scam with car tax discs. Seems a bit weird not to have to produce corroborative ID when asking for your refund. But then it seems a bit weird to have a transferable promissory note taped to your vehicle as a legal requirement in this networked age. ho hum.

  9. Weezx
    re: A Solution to Theft of Motorcycle Tax-Disks?

    Isn’t this a jpg?

  10. alecm
    jpegs

    Yeeees, but the point of “[ ceci n’est pas une jpeg ]” is to pass comment – as I have done for many years – upon websites that surprise you with impertinent graphics in the sidebar; I lean instead towards minimalism, but do use graphics to illustrate articles “because that’s the point of the blog”.

    Egregious example (from someone from my referrer list who has been hyperlinking to my images without attribution):- http http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=iwenttopolicecampwithnina

    More Cuddly Example :- http http://www.geoffarnold.com/ 😎

  11. alecm
    re: jpegs

    ps: backdrops are evil, too. 😎

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