Paper tax discs will be consigned to history this October... but that's clearly not soon enough for British Transport Police.

One of the force's camera vans has been spotted displaying a tax disc more than a month out of date outside Ebbsfleet International Station.

A sharp-eyed commuter saw the van yesterday afternoon and tweeted a quick photo from his phone.

Drivers can face fines of up to £1,000 for failing to display a valid tax disc and contrary to myth there is no grace period allowed after an old disc has expired.

British Transport Police said in a statement that the police do not need to pay vehicle tax, although they still need to display a valid one.

A British Transport Police Spokesman said: “All British Transport Police vehicles are exempt from paying Vehicle Excise Duty, although we are required to display a police-nil value tax disc.

"All of our vehicles have been issued with up-to-date police-nil value tax discs. We are aware of a photograph of one of our vehicles in Kent displaying a disc dated April 2014.

"We are currently working to establish when the photograph was taken, and if the disc for this vehicle needs to be replaced.”

From October this year vehicles will no longer have to display a paper tax disc with police and the DVLA instead relying solely on an electronic register.