(Sec. 143 Road Traffic Act 1988)
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/143
You would have been charged with ‘Using a motor vehicle on a road or other public place where there is not in force a policy of insurance or security against third party risks.
This is an offence which is considered as serious by the Magistrates. No insurance is a strict liability offence, which means if you cannot prove that you had an insurance to cover you when you were driving you will be found guilty.
Whilst the prosecution is not under any obligation to prove that you did not have an insurance certificate, it is up to you, the defendant to prove on the balance of probabilities that at the time of the alleged incident, you were insured.
Fixed Penalty Points (FPN): -
If you are caught by the police for driving without insurance, they may offer you a Fine of £300.00 and 6 Fixed Penalty points.
If you do not accept the offered Fixed Penalty OR If further 6 Fixed Penalty points may take your points level up to 12 or more, for driving offences committed within the same 3 year period leading to a driving ban of 6 months or more, police will not deal with the matter by way of a fixed penalty and you will be required to attend the magistrates Court.
If you are summoned to court:
At Court you may plead guilty and submit mitigating circumstances or if there are any ‘special reasons’ that you wish to put forward you may do so. If you do have a valid defence you should tell the court why you should not be convicted for the offence of driving without insurance.
Defences:
According to the legislation a person charged with using a motor vehicle without valid insurance shall not be convicted if he proves—
(a) that the vehicle did not belong to him and was not in his possession under a contract of hiring or of loan,
(b) that he was using the vehicle in the course of his employment, and
(c) that he neither knew nor had reason to believe that there was not in force in relation to the vehicle an insurance policy or security
****Please see below for revised sentencing guidelines for no insurance offence:
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/no-insurance-revised-2017/
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Points Code Offence Points
IN10 Using a vehicle uninsured against third party risks 6-8
Code IN10 must stay on a driving record for 4 years from the date of the offence.
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If you did have a valid insurance to drive the vehicle, or you genuinely have reasons to believe that you were covered by an insurance at the time you used the car you may be able to persuade the Magistrates not to give you any points on your licence. We can help you to put forward your ‘special reasons’ to persuade the Magistrates to exercise discretion not to impose any penalty points.
If you wish to discuss the circumstances of your case with us, please call us on 0208 577 5491 to speak to one of our motoring offences lawyers.
Continuous Insurance Enforcement – Vehicle licensing:
As part of the Continuous Insurance Enforcement legislation, it is an offence to keep a vehicle on the road without a vehicle licence. If your vehicle is not insured you will be liable for a penalty if you park it on the road or drive around. If you have informed the DVLA that your vehicle is being kept of the road by submitting a Statutory Off-Road Notice (SORN) you do not need a vehicle insurance.
You may go to www.askmid.com to check whether your car is shown on the website as insured.