Insurance Offence

You will commit an offence if you use, or to let another person use, a motor vehicle on a road or public place which does not have in force in respect of it an insurance policy which at the very least insures against third party risks and which complies with section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

If you have been charged with this offence then you should contact keepmedrivingas soon as practicable so that we can advise you on the options open to you. This is a complicated area of the law and there are a number of defences which can be brought.

It is important that you realise that it is not necessary for you actually to be driving the vehicle – merely use it. Therefore, if the vehicle is stationary or parked on a public road and there is no valid insurance the offence will have been committed. However, it will have to be shown that you actually had use of the vehicle for a case to be proved against you. Thus it may be a defence to show that at the relevant time you had leant or sold the car to a third party and could not therefore be regarded as having any control or use of the vehicle. Note, however, that it is not a defence for you to say that you were unaware that it was not insured.

It is quite common for allegations to arise where company cars are involved. For example, the employee may not be aware that the company has failed to insure the vehicle. If this instance arises then you should contact keepmedriving as a matter of urgency since you will be the one who is regarded as having control of the vehicle and therefore be ‘using’ it for the purposes of this legislation.

Finally, even though you may have committed a technical offence, it may be possible for us to argue that you should not receive a ban or penalty points there are special reasons which apply. This could include, for example, that the insurance company had cancelled your insurance without notifying you or that you believed that insurance had been effected by your employer but without your knowledge it had not been finalised or the insurance company had not issued a policy.

In the event that you are convicted of this offence then you face a penalty of between 6 and 8 penalty points, a fine of up to £5,000 and even the possibility of disqualification. The extent of the sentence will depend to an extent upon whether the court believes that the offence was not committed deliberately and possibly without your knowledge.

If you have been charged with an insurance offence then contact keepmedriving either by completing the appropriate online information form which you will find in the Getting Help section, by requesting a free call-back using the free, no-obligation call-back form to the right or by phoning us during office hours on 084 4804 4804