The small paper disc which has been a feature on car windscreens in the UK for 93 years will be consigned to history tomorrow.

From, Wednesday , October 1, the paper tax disc will no longer need to be displayed on a vehicle although vehicle excise duty (VED) must still be paid.

If you have a tax disc with any months left to run after this date, it can be removed from the vehicle and destroyed. Your vehicle will still be registered as taxed in the database of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

The DVLA will rely on electronic records to keep track of which vehicles on the nation’s roads are taxed. Vehicles should be either taxed or subject of a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN).

Those not falling into either category are subject of automatic enforcement by DVLA through a fixed penalty notice. Checks on vehicles using the roads will be carried out through the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology.

The DVLA will still send V11 or V85/1 renewal reminders to the registered keeper of a vehicle when vehicle tax is due to expire, but will no longer be printing or posting out tax discs when payment is received.

Richard Pryce, Roads Policing Unit Inspector for Devon and Cornwall Police, said: “From 1 October vehicles will start to be seen on the roads without a tax disc displayed but I’m sure many who have discs which are not expired will continue to display them in their windscreens.

"We would ask the public not to call the police if they see vehicles without tax discs displayed after this date.

“The police will use the same electronic records as DVLA to check the tax, insurance and MOT status of vehicles and will continue to report untaxed vehicles to DVLA in the same way as before.”

Along with the abolition of the tax disc there will be some other changes. These include the automatic refunding to the seller of a vehicle of any remaining complete months of tax on their vehicle.

This means that the buyer must always tax a vehicle themselves before taking it on the road and second hand vehicles cannot be purchased with current tax. Alternative options to pay VED are also being introduced.

Vehicles which have nil rates of VED or are exempt still need to be registered for VED to ensure they appear on the correct data base.

The DVLA has published official guidelines online on its website here www.gov.uk/government/news/vehicle-tax-changes where you will also find a link to the online vehicle tax status check.