The number of cars clamped for drivers’ non-payment of vehicle tax has shot up following the abolition of the paper tax disc.

Clampings for unpaid VED have risen 80% in two years since the tax disc was abolished.

Data revealed by the BBC indicates an 80% rise in two years to more than 9,000 clampings a month.

The figures, obtained by through a Freedom of Information request, shows there were 5,100 clampings a month over the six months up to October 2014, when the disc was abolished. The latest six-monthly figures, up to October this year, show the average soared to 9,200 a month.

“The law is that you pay your tax,” said the DVLA’s chief executive, Oliver Morley to the BBC. “The vast majority pay with no problem at all.”

DVLA figures revealed by the RAC last year show revenue from vehicle excise duty fell by £93m in the year following the abolition of the paper tax disc – although the DVLA had predicted the new system would lead to savings of £10m – and believed to be the result of increased evasion as well as growing take-up of ‘cheaper to tax’ low carbon emission vehicles.