On Tuesday our car tax expired. We took the old disc out of the car - and stuck it on the fridge for posterity. Because on Wednesday your payment of car tax, sorry Vehicle Excise Duty, is not displayed by means of a piece of paper on the windscreen. For 93 years we've been showing our compliance with the law by means of these paper circles, and I'll miss them.

The end of paper tax discs for cars means...

...no more little 'Car tax applied for' notes on the dashboard.

...no more trying unsuccessfully to tear along a circular line of perforations.

...no more grappling with the little plastic sphincter on the back of the plastic holder that was stuck to the windscreen (but more room now for membership stickers).

...no more grumbling about 'the number of cars parked round here with no tax'.

...no more transferring the tax to the new owner when you sell the car.

The DVLA will still send you a reminder when your tax is about to expire, and from now on, as well as annually, and six-monthly, you'll be able to pay monthly by direct debit, for a 5% surcharge.

Whether you've paid car tax will be revealed by your numberplate, which the police can scan with ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras.

Drivers will lose out a little, though, because now, if you sell your car, the refund on any outstanding tax will be calculated from the beginning of the next month, while the new owner has to tax the car from the beginning of the current month. So that's two lots of car tax on one vehicle for a month. Could be a nice little earner for the Government...