penalties for driving without insurance ?

[dcb]

I've just been wondering what the penalties are for driving without insurance are.

Would anyone care to educate me ?

I'm thinking mainly of having no insurance whatsoever - not a technical infringement like the wrong kind of insurance etc.

[7db]

Courts can impose EITHER a ban OR points.
If they go for points the no insurance will get you either 6 or 8. Its usually 6 for a first offence.

Fine will depend on ability to pay.

[MILF]

The fine is also dependant upon your earnings, so you can get the ridiculous state of affairs where some workshy fop is fined £60 to £100 & is allowed to pay if off at £2.50 per week from his Income Support (I kid you not).

Bit of a bugger when you consider how much Insurance costs today (& I work for an Insurer to boot !!).

[Dwight VanDriver]

Penalty (max at Court) for using without Insurance:

Five thousand pounds.
(OOhh that would make someone's eyes water...)

Discretionary disqualification.
Obligatory endorsement
6 to 8 points
{Sched 2 Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988]

If dealt with by Fixed Penalty - 200 quid and 6 points.
[The Fixed Penalty (Amendment) Order 2003]


This can mean immediate removal of drivers licence of New Driver.{Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995

Car can be impounded [S152 Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005]

..... and if that aint all moves a foot to have a system similar to Excise Licence and SORN so that you notify possession of an uninsured vehicle kept off the road.

dvd

>> Edited by Dwight VanDriver on Friday 19th August 15:58

[IVANHOE]

Anyone stupid enough to drive without insurance should have their vehicle confiscated and put through the crusher, then banned from driving for life.

[jimothy]

IVANHOE said:

Anyone stupid enough to drive without insurance should be put through the crusher, then banned from driving for life.

[parrot of doom]

Insurnace should be a state fund, and not for the individual. That way, everybody in the country is automatically insured.

Paid for from fuel duty.

[7db]

And cover cyclists too.

[jasandjules]

But for many, insurance costs more than the car is worth. Get caught, get banned, So what? Just drive the car banned and without insurance... Get the car taken away? Get another cheap car, and repeat.

[MILF]

parrot of doom.

The problem I envisage with your recommendation is how do you then "load" such a Policy against motorists who are a bad risk, ie points/numerous earlier accidents etc ? There is also the question of the young not paying enough to represent the greater risk they represent & inviduals in high risk areas being subsidised by those in more affluent & thus (generally speaking) lower risk areas.

At least with the Insurance Industry we have now, such motorists have their premiums increased to represent the risk they represent & are forced to pay the appropriate monies.

I personally, for my 2p worth, agree that the fines for such offences are wholly inadequate & are in no way representative of the social menace that Uninsured drivers are.

[dcb]

7db said:

Courts can impose EITHER a ban OR points. If they go for points the no insurance will get you either 6 or 8. Its usually 6 for a first offence. Fine will depend on ability to pay.

No prison, so not that serious then.

6-8 points wouldn't worry most "no insurance" punters and ability to pay would be about zero for almost all of them.

I was hoping for 3-6 months in prison.

[cortinaman]

if someone hits my car and doesnt have insurance i think the last thing on their mind will be what a court decide......they'll be too busy trying to pick their teeth up out of the f***ing road with busted fingers!

[Dwight VanDriver]

Stop eating raw meat for dinner C, it is not agreeing with you.

S20 Offences against the Persons Act 1861 - GBH - 5 years imprisonment.

All healed and new teeth well before you come out.

dvd

[cortinaman]

thanks for the advise dvd but on this issue my answer still stands.

[parrot of doom]

MILF said:

parrot of doom. The problem I envisage with your recommendation is how do you then "load" such a Policy against motorists who are a bad risk, ie points/numerous earlier accidents etc ?

There is no reason to load the system against these people, in just the same way that smokers and alcoholics pay no more towards the NHS.

[Alice Cupra]

I have always cringed at the level of fines imposed for driving with no insurance. I mean, a fine around £60 - £100 is not uncommon. Hardly a deterrant is it?

My thoughts have always tended to be that the fine imposed should be worked out as follows:

Take the driver and car details
Pass them through a panel of around 10 'approved' major insurance companies
The fine would be the average premium of these insurers plus, say, 20%

Then add a mandatory 12 month disqualification.

No ifs. No buts.

Can't pay? Tough. Custodial sentence, of between 3 and 12 months, depending on mitigating / aggravating factors, with mandatory 12 month ban to start upon release. (No point in banning them for 12 months, all of which is spent inside!)

Not first 'no insurance' offence? Immediate custodial, 6 - 24 months. Same 12 month ban to start on release.


Also, to back this up and increase the likelihood of being caught, there should be an increase in the number of ANPR cameras in use. Let's force them off the roads !


.......and relax.

[Pigeon]

PoD's scheme is much better than getting all vitriolic and draconian about it. It works in Australia, and the other place that does it that I can't remember.

[dcb]

Pigeon said:

PoD's scheme is much better than getting all vitriolic and draconian about it. It works in Australia, and the other place that does it that I can't remember.

Well, if you want folks to behave themselves, you have to make the punishment a lot worse than the benefit the crime brings.

The current punishment levels seem laughable to me.

I'm not suggesting hanging folks for washing their cars on a Sunday, but presumably folks without insurance don't bother about MOTs either, so a measured response is suitable.

3-6 months in jail [ not a pound a week out of their dole money ] seems appropriate to me.