Usually it is Bristol City Council clamping down on people in the city to make sure they pay their taxes – but this photo shows one incident when the tables were turned.

Shortly before the picture was taken by a Bristol Post reader on his mobile phone, the Bristol City Council vehicle had been clamped by the DVLA's van and had a sign stuck on its windscreen saying "Untaxed vehicle".

The clamping occurred on Winton Street in Totterdown and immediately drew the attention of several amused passers-by, including taxi driver Khal Hussain, who took the photo.

Mr Hussain, aged 40, from Totterdown, said: "People thought it was very funny.

"Everyone was laughing, because we're all stuck in this credit crunch gloom at the moment.

"It seems that even the council is having trouble if it can't pay its car tax."

The DVLA, which sends out regular patrols to make sure people have paid their car tax, said it was unable to comment on a specific case.

But spokesman David Whitbread said it was important to keep your car tax up-to-date.

He said: "Car tax can only be purchased with a valid MOT and insurance certificate, it reduces the number of potentially dangerous untaxed, uninsured and unroadworthy vehicles on the road."

The DVLA van in the photo part of the agency's fleet which are all specially equipped with the state-of-the-art Automatic Number Plate Reader technology that automatically check number plates against a list of untaxed vehicles from DVLA's database in a matter of seconds.

City Council spokeswoman Kate Hartas said: "The council is currently investigating with the DVLA."