The Government has unveiled tough new measures to tackle car crime by tightening vehicle registration and licensing regulations.

New rules, announced by the Department for Transport, mean all cars written off or “scrapped” after an accident and then repaired must pass a £26.50 vehicle identity check from April next year before the DVLA will issue new registration documents.

And from February 2003, drivers must show their V11 or V5 paperwork to the post office before they can be issued with a tax disc.

The move aims to stop “ringing” where criminals pass off stolen vehicles as cars that have been written off. But the measures are also part of a wider package designed to crack down on all forms of car crime.

Alistair Darling, secretary of state for transport, says the Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime, which costs the economy about £3bn a year. Nearly 400,000 cars are stolen every year and 120,000 are never recovered.