Jeff Smith welcomes extension to temporary car registration for Ukrainian refugees

Jeff Smith, Labour MP for Manchester Withington, has welcomed an extension to car registration for Ukrainian refugees, following his campaign about the plight of refugees living in south Manchester.

Earlier this year, Jeff Smith raised the issue of car registration fees in Parliament on behalf of two Ukrainian refugees living in Didsbury. Having escaped over 2,000 miles by car from Ukraine, the two faced having to drive all the way back to Dnipro and leave it in a warzone because of costly registration fees.

The Ukrainians had only been able to secure a maximum of 12 months of temporary car registration. The cost of re-registering in the United Kingdom and then later re-registering the car back to the Ukraine would have cost thousands in import tax and was completely unaffordable. This was the case for many Ukrainians who had fled to the United Kingdom by car, and Jeff alongside other Labour MPs and the group Ukrainian Refugee Help have been campaigning for an extension of temporary registration of vehicles for Ukrainian refugees.

After Jeff raised the case with the Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt, and with the Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper, the Department for Transport have agreed to exempt individuals holding visas under the Ukrainian visa schemes from Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) and registration for 3 years for their Ukrainian-plated vehicles. This corresponds to the length of the Ukrainian visa schemes and removes the costs associated with VED and registering their vehicles while individuals are temporarily in the UK, enabling them to continue going about their daily lives.

Jeff Smith MP says: “After having to undertake such a perilous journey from Ukraine to the United Kingdom in the first place, it was nonsensical that refugees would be forced to make the journey back to avoid extortionate fees”

“This issue has dragged on for months and supporters were facing a brick wall when it came to the Department of Transport. It took a lot of effort from a number of people to make the case that a temporary extension would be the most common sense solution”

The updated rules around car registration for Ukrainian refugees can be found here.