Motoring lawyer Jeanette Miller is the senior partner of Geoffrey Miller Solicitors, one of the UK’s only firms specialising solely in defending drivers facing prosecution for motoring offences. Jeanette warns that ignorance is no defence when it comes to driving without insurance.
When I first passed my driving test, I remember thinking ‘fully comp’ meant that my insurance enabled me to drive any car with the owner’s consent. But, unbeknown to many motorists, while some policies do extend cover to any vehicle, many do not.
In my job it’s amazing how many drivers I come across who face six to eight penalty points and a whopping fine (the maximum is £5,000) for driving without insurance when they genuinely believed their fully comprehensive insurance policy covered them to drive, say, their girlfriend’s car.
Unfortunately, the phrase “ignorance is no defence” is definitely applicable here and a driver who unwittingly makes this mistake could end up paying a very heavy price.
The same applies to people who allow direct debit payments for insurance policy premiums to lapse. It’s easily done and can happen to the best of us but if you try telling that to the magistrates it won’t make a lot of difference to the penalty they impose.
Insurance loopholes?
Insurance offences are probably among the most difficult for us to defend because cases usually boil down to a simple factual question: was the driver insured or not?
Incorrectly assuming you were insured doesn’t wash with the courts. Relying on someone else’s assurance that you are insured is also no defence. That is, unless you drive a company-owned vehicle and your employer informed you that you were insured to drive it.
If you relied on a parent’s assurance that you were insured on their car, this can also amount to a ‘special reason’ why the court can choose to impose no penalty.
However, if that kind of argument is raised, the person who gave the assurance that you were insured could find that they are prosecuted for 'causing or permitting' you to drive without insurance (also six to eight points and a fine).
A fairer solution
So why is the penalty so severe? According to market research firm Consumer Intelligence, in 2010 uninsured drivers cost the insurance industry £2 billion.
And in June this year even tougher laws were introduced to catch those evading insurance, accidentally or not. The new rules mean that even if a car is off-road, if it doesn't have insurance the registered keeper could receive a fixed penalty of £100.
On top of this they could have their vehicle clamped, impounded or destroyed, and face a court prosecution with a possible maximum fine of £1,000.
Perhaps it would be fairer if those who found themselves in court solely because of forgetfulness or ignorance faced no more than a cash fine, while those who deliberately drove without insurance faced a possible points sanction as well.
If you have a question for Jeanette on any aspect of motoring law, from parking tickets to speeding fines, please email editor@confused.com and your question with an answer from Jeanette could appear in our next blog.
How about the fact that the government turned our inalienable right to travel in to a privillege & then by this very clever legal machination. They can then force people to get a driving license, insurance, road tax the lot.
How is it that Lawyers first duty is to the court & not the person they represent ?
How is it that the courts are acting on persons at all. When a person is a legal fiction ?
How is it that lawyers do not practice the law but only practice legalese ?
How is that legalese is not law & that all motoring prosecutions are carried out under legalese attaching to a legal fiction "person" and not law ?
How is it that ALL courts are corporations run for profit at the expense of the public. And there is no law going on it is just business.
How is it that the councils usually hire the courts in order to trick the people in to thinking they are in a real court. when in reality they are just in some star chamber administration.
U scribes & pharisees will pay for your work.
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