No Insurance
Introduction
It is an offence to drive
a motor vehicle without a certificate
of insurance in place covering you to
drive that vehicle on that occasion.
Driving without insurance
is treated very seriously in the Magistrates
Court because of the potential
implications if you were to crash when
uninsured.
To be found guilty of driving
without insurance the Prosecution simply
have to prove that you were driving a
motor vehicle on a public road at the
time of the alleged offence. Because this
is a documentary offence the burden passes
to the Defendant (you) to prove that you
were actually insured at the time you
were driving. This is because it would
be almost impossible for the Prosecution
to prove that you were not insured and
they would have to go through every insurance
company in the Country using their insurance
database to try and establish there was
no certificate in place.
Therefore a Defendant has
to prove on the balance of probabilities
that he was insured at the time of the
alleged offence. This is unusual because
most of the time in relation to road traffic
law the Prosecution have to proof their
case beyond reasonable doubt and the Defendant
generally does not have to prove anything.
One of the things that catches
most people out in relation to the no
insurance offence is that you do not have
to actually be driving the vehicle at
the time of the alleged offence in order
to be guilty. The offence is actually
described as using the vehicle without
insurance. Using a vehicle can mean "having
use of " the vehicle . This
means that if the vehicle is parked up
on a public road outside your home for
example (even if it is broken down) the
Court will still find that you had the
potential use of the vehicle and therefore
if it is uninsured they will find you
guilty of using the vehicle without insurance.
Another way in which a lot
of people get caught out in relation to
insurance offences is because they believe
that their fully comprehensive insurance
covers them to drive a vehicle owned by
another person with their permission.
A lot of fully comprehensive insurance
policies do not actually have this type
of cover as of right. This element of
the cover is also sometimes dependant
on the age of the policy holder.
It is of paramount importance
that you understand the terms of your
insurance policy and you make sure each
and every time you drive either your vehicle
or someone else's that you are actually
insured.
Defences
There are very few defences to driving
without insurance. The only real defence
is to argue that either you were not driving
or that you were insured. Driving under
the mistaken belief that you were insured
at the time of the alleged offence is
not a defence! No insurance is a strict
liability offence. This means that it
does not matter whether or not you meant
to commit the offence - if, as a
matter of fact, you did not have insurance
in place at the time you were driving,
then you are guilty. It is also a defence
to be driving in the course of your employment
and to be able to show the Court that
your employer was responsible for insuring
you and that you genuinely believed that
there was proper insurance in place.
Special Reasons Arguments
It can sometimes be argued
that, whilst you are technically guilty
of the offence in question because you
were uninsured at the time you were driving,
you have Special Reasons in relation to
the circumstances in which you were driving,
namely that you were driving under the
genuine misapprehension that you were
insured at the time. If you successfully
argue that there are Special Reasons then
the Magistrates have a discretion not
to impose penalty points. In order to
argue Special Reasons you would need to
support your argument by giving evidence
on oath and it is preferable to provide
documentary evidence to the Magistrates
in order to support your argument.
You may be able to establish
Special Reasons if you have been mislead
by the insurance company or somebody else
as to the nature of the cover in place
and this lead you to believe that you
were insured at the time you were driving.
You might also be able to argue Special
Reasons if the insurance company cancelled
the policy without good reason and failed
to notify you of that in advance of the
offence.
Sentencing
No insurance is viewed very
seriously by the Magistrates because of
the implications of having an accident
whilst uninsured. For this reason it carries
a hefty penalty of 6 to 8 penalty points,
a possible discretionary ban and a fine
of up to £5,000 (again this is affected
by how serious the offence is and your
financial circumstances).
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