TAX-BUSTING double cab pick-ups would be among the casualties if rule changes on Benefit In Kind taxation are introduced without adequate notice.

The warning comes from David Hill, senior editor of CAP Red Book, the trade-confidential benchmark guide to used commercial vehicle values.

Mr Hill argues that leisure-related vehicles are enjoying a boom time thanks to tax breaks on vehicles with payloads in excess of one tonne.

He said: “Double cab pickups have been the biggest winner here and the manufacturers have been quick to respond with enhanced specification and improved ride quality. All this stems from Government reinterpretation of the rules and regulations which define precisely what makes a commercial vehicle as opposed to a car.

“What we must watch out for are changes in the rules slipping in with little notice because that is often the first step in a journey towards trouble with the Inland Revenue.

“There are people who have been running around in £20,000 worth of vehicle for £500 per year tax and a tax rule change would bring a flood of such vehicles back into the marketplace.”