“But I thought I was covered?” – Driving Without Insurance

It is a criminal offence to drive a motor vehicle on a public road without having at least third-party insurance in place covering a driver’s use of that vehicle.

If you are found guilty of driving without insurance, the minimum points you will receive on your licence is 6 as well as a £300 fixed penalty fine, or, depending on the seriousness of the offence or previous offences, you may be disqualified from driving for up to 12 months and subject to an unlimited fine.

Driving without valid insurance is a “absolute” offence which means that the mind set of the defendant at the time of the offending is irrelevant – if there is no insurance in place and the vehicle is used on a road or public place (which have very broad meanings), then an offence will have been committed. It will then be up to you to rebut the Prosecution’s case with a defence and supporting evidence.

Defences to a charge of driving without insurance can be:

• Using a vehicle without insurance on private land (not on a road or public place);
• The vehicle not belonging to the driver and was not in the driver’s possession under a contract of hiring or of loan;
• Using a vehicle in the course of the driver’s employment; or
• The driver neither knowing nor having reason to believe there was no valid insurance in place.

It is not a defence, only mitigation, for the driver to rely on their insurer “renewing” the policy even if the policy was on “auto-renewal”. It is still up to the driver to check that they have valid insurance in place at the time of the offence.

It could however be grounds for a “special reasons” argument if the driver had every reason to believe that they were validly insured at the time of the offence. This could be in circumstances where:

• The insurer cancelled the policy without notifying the driver;
• The insurer encountered a technical or administrative difficulty through no fault of the driver; or
• That the driver is informed (by the vehicle or policy holder) that they can legally drive the vehicle on a road or public place and it was reasonable to rely on such information.

If a “special reasons” argument is successful, the court would not subject you to penalty points or a ban.

There are some circumstances which all drivers should be aware of:

• If you have just bought vehicle and drive it straight from the dealership, as soon as it is transferred into your name and you drive the vehicle on a road; you must have it insured, otherwise, if the police stop you – the offence will be made out.
• You don’t even need to have driven, or be driving, a vehicle to be guilty of the offence. It is an offence for anyone to “use”, “cause or permit” a person to use a vehicle on a road. On this basis, the uninsured vehicle may be simply parked outside your house on a road for you to have broken the law.
• If you’ve lent your vehicle to a friend and they say that they have insurance to drive the vehicle, and it turns out that they don’t, then you could both be found guilty of the offence so it is important not to take everything simply at face value.

If you’ve been charged with driving with no insurance and you believe that you had valid insurance in place at the time of the offence, or you were led to believe this, contact one of our Criminal and Motoring Solicitors today on 01484 519 999 or email HarveyBlake@chadlaw.co.uk for a free consultation over the telephone on how we can help you.