untaxed vehicles Thousands of car tax dodgers in Oxfordshire could have their vehicles crushed under tough new measures announced by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Wheelclamping 'hit squads' will look for untaxed cars and the owners of clamped vehicles will have 14 days to pay set penalties -- or the vehicle will be crushed.

Only vehicles belonging to persistent tax dodgers will be clamped.

There are 17,000 untaxed vehicles in Oxfordshire -- costing £2.2m in lost revenue.

John Moore, the DVLA's enforcement manager, said: "Law-abiding drivers have nothing to fear. But we are taking a hard line with tax cheats who continually flout the law."

Susan Brown, Oxford City Council executive member for crime and community safety, said: "We warmly welcome this initiative by the DVLA. There is a problem for the city in dealing with vehicles which are untaxed but which are claimed by owners.

"These are not allowed to be dealt with as abandoned vehicles. They are the responsibility of the DVLA."

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "Avoiding payment of road tax is a serious offence and offenders need to be made aware of that."