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Uninsured driver

Technical issues not related to a DLOC car marque, eg tyres, ethanol, other car makes, etc. and legal, political and insurance
Chris_R
Wise Man
Wise Man
Posts: 662
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 12:48 pm
Location: Twickenham

Re: Uninsured driver

Post by Chris_R »

That's correct John, cars without MOT or without insurance are impounded. That's because it's against the law to drive on the road without an MOT unless (for one reason or another) are exempt and the instruction has gone out to clamp down on such offences. But that does not have anything to do with whether the insurance is invalidated or not. A classic with an MOT is fine because it's got one. A classic that is MOT exempt will also be fine unless it is obviously not roadworthy.

John Hitchins
Site Admin
Posts: 244
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 10:52 am
Location: Wellington Somerset

Re: Uninsured driver

Post by John Hitchins »

Chris, it is a difficult one but if I asked an insurance company to insure my car that I drive with no MOT what would be their reply? If the answer is yes then we go back to the question at the begining of the thread.

Christopher Storey
Helpful Person
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Posts: 404
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2016 6:40 pm
Location: Cheshire

Re: Uninsured driver

Post by Christopher Storey »

The law is absolutely clear , and I do not care what Google says about it. ( as Queen's Counsel, and for 20 years sitting as a Judge in the Crown Court I have a nodding acquaintance with the Law !)

1. All vehicles taken on a public road must be the subject of a valid insurance policy against Road Traffic Act risks ( i.e against personal injury risks - it is not even compulsory to have insurance against third party damage risks ) . Note that "public road " for these purposes includes places which you might imagine were actually private, such as supermarket car parks

2. A vehicle which is insured as above may lawfully be driven to and from MOT stations for pre - booked tests and/or repair

Chris_R
Wise Man
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Posts: 662
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 12:48 pm
Location: Twickenham

Re: Uninsured driver

Post by Chris_R »

Hence if you get stopped by the police with no valid insurance the car will be impounded immediately. For the police to do anything less would render them complicit in an illegal act.

New Dexter
Wise Man
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Posts: 556
Joined: Fri Feb 12, 2016 9:41 am

Re: Uninsured driver

Post by New Dexter »

If I can up date the situation.
I have fitted a new tow bar, £114.30 and now the car can tow a trailer without problems. Fortunately that's all the damage but I am over £100 out of pocket. It doesn't help that if my insurers were to pay out they would give me £14.30 as I have a £100 XS
I decided to contact the relevant police force this afternoon and spoke to their control room. The young man explained that the traffic sergeant had decided that they would put "it on the system". This meant that any ANPR cameras would react if the car drove past. This would apply to vehicles and those vans that sit on the side of the road. I asked what would happen if, when stopped, the driver had met all three criteria. i.e. RFL, MOT and insurance and was told that he would be allowed to go. Now this didn't strike me as logical because, at the time of the incident, he had none of these. I thanked the man for his help and we terminated the conversation but I was somewhat concerned. I did ask what would have happened had he injured someone.
Then, to my amazement he called back. He said that they had a telephone number for the owner of the vehicle and he had just called him to check that the car was registered in his name. He went on to inform me that the name they had in their records differed slightly from the one I had been given. I had been given a road name for his address which was just slightly different from the real one and the mobile number I had been given wasn't quite the same either. I did wonder why they had a contact telephone number but didn't ask why, things were making good progress!
Then he asked if I could explain what had happened as it appeared that the young woman to whom I had spoken on the 10th was a new member of staff and hadn't recorded the incident correctly. I gave this information and he asked if I could visit a police station to give a statement which, naturally, I was prepared to do. It seems giving the statement in a station within their patch would be preferable but I did point out that, should this have happened to someone some considerable distance from the county they wouldn't want to travel so far just to give a statement. He reminded me that giving false information at the scene of a RTA is an offence which had added to the third party's misdemeanours.
However, it was very refreshing to know that someone had gone just that little bit further. Now I have to make a statement at a local police station and I do hope the little beep has some explaining to do. Should I be asked to identify him the presence of multiple ta'oos on his arms would suffice. (Please note that in current parlance the t in the word is somewhat silent)
Originally, in our first conversation he had mentioned the fact that they didn't have sufficient police officers to do all the things that might be needed, they had regular reports of uninsured drivers and I could understand their difficulty and here we go back to the idiot who thought it wise to remove the need for a visible RFL disc. In Ireland they have to show not only the RFL disc but also details of their insurance. Trust the British to come with a "cunning plan" and not think it through.
If anything further arises I will add to this post.
PS I didn't realise we had such eminent members :o

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