THE abolition of tax discs has left drivers without physical evidence of paying something that cyclists don’t.

Thousands of motorists cherished the windscreen adornment as visual proof that roads belong to four-wheeled transport.

Norman Steele of Norwich said: My tax disc has always been a source of pride in my dealings with ‘pedallers’.

“What will I point at now when showing cyclists I am perfectly justified in knocking them into a hedge?

“I would need to actually stop, wind down the window and show them a printout of my bank statement, underlining the payment to the DVLA with my finger.”

He added: “Yes, pedants say that road tax per se hasn’t existed since 1937, it’s actually Vehicle Excise Duty and is based on engine size. But this is a free country and Britons are not prisoners of facts.”

Salesman Nathan Muir said: “Old Taxey Bill, as I call him, has always been there in my peripheral vision, rain or shine.

“I talk to him and tell him my secrets. He doesn’t judge me, not even when I go dogging.”

White van driver Bill McKay said: I wont be removing the tax disc from my car. Even if it did expire in October 2008 and my vehicle is kept strategically parked round the back of the local rugby club.”