No Insurance & Permitting no Insurance
The offence of permitting no insurance exists in order to make the registered keeper of each vehicle responsible for anyone driving it to have a valid insurance policy.
Prior to this it was the driver who was pursued for not having insurance, but since more remote forms of policing (speed cameras etc.) became popular, and there was a marked increase in registered keepers naming ‘invisible’ people as the driver at the time of the offence, it is now quite common for police to pursue you, as the registered keeper to demonstrate that the ‘invisible’ driver you have named had valid insurance for your vehicle.
If you can’t provide this proof then you will be prosecuted for ‘permitting no insurance’ which carries 6 points and a fine for the registered keeper.
This passes the responsibility to make sure that anyone who drives your car is insured onto you. The law is designed to reduce the amount of uninsured drivers on the roads. Latest figures from 2011 – 14 indicate that over 1/2 a million motorists were prosecuted for the offence.
No Insurance
There are very few valid defences for driving without insurance, you either have some or you don’t, however you can argue that you either; weren’t driving or that you did indeed have valid insurance in place at the time.
If you can show that you were driving under a genuine misapprehension that you were insured at the time then you may have a possible defence and may avoid the penalty points.
For example, if you are driving a company vehicle and you believed it to be insured when it wasn’t then you have a potentially valid defence.
One mossed direct debit payment can see you with 6 points on your licence and a fine. With so many drivers already having a few points already from minor speeding offences etc. a small administration error like this can make a huge difference to your life.
The thought of causing injury to someone and then not being covered to help them fills me with dread. I don’t know how people can drive around without having cover, it’s so irresponsible
The penalty for not having car insurance is so low, typically a £30 fine, it’s no surprise that so many drivers don’t bother with the high cost. Not having insurance needs to cost twice as much as having it.