Uninsured vehicles subject to new rules and fines

With thanks to the BBC, from where this was mercilessly culled: A new law has come into force which requires all vehicles with road tax to be insured.

Now you can be fined without actually driving your car!

There are estimated to be about 1.4 million motorists without insurance. Previously, uninsured drivers are prosecuted only after they have been caught actually driving. Although police cars have number plate recognition technology which can check cars against a database, it still requires police time to enforce.

 

The new offence will allow motorists to be prosecuted for simply owning a vehicle without insurance. Letters will be sent to drivers and, if they do nothing, they face a £100 fine followed by court action.

 

If the vehicle remains uninsured - regardless of whether the fine is paid - further action will be taken. If the vehicle is on public land it could then be clamped, seized and destroyed.

 

Alternatively court action could be taken, with the offender facing a fine of up to £1,000.

 

Motorists who have declared their SORN will not be fined.

 

Ministers say the change will allow police to concentrate their efforts on hard core offenders, who drive unregistered cars which the automatic system will not be able to trace.

 

Road Safety minister Mike Penning said: "Uninsured drivers are a danger on our roads, killing 160 and injuring a further 23,000 people each year, and they cost honest motorists £500m in extra premiums.

 

Just looks like more hassle and if your car's in the garage, waiting for a part so you can't get it MOT'd, so you haven't renewed the insurance, but you've still got some tax left on it, you can be fined for not having insurance... So you can SORN or insure or let the nice lawman decide if he wants to crush your car. Because it's too much hassle for him to deal with the real problem? This last paragraph wasn't from the BBC.