I was going to Asda to buy some mouthwash and I was pulled by the police for driving without insurance. I share the car with my brother, am a listed named driver and he pays the insurance by direct debit. The police man followed me home to speak with him. My brother produced the insurance certificate and everything. Now I have to wait until tomorrow to find out what's happening, when the policeman has contacted the insurance company. He says that if the payment has been missed then I'm going to get a court summons, be fined £200 and have my license revoked. It's all my fault and I'm aware of that, but to lose my license is going to be truly a horrible experience. I'll get a criminal record as well. I am honestly unaware if there's a problem with the insurance as it's his policy. There goes my career. :-(

That really sucks :-(

Try to relax though - you've gone straight to worst case scenario, which (whilst understandable) is hardly likely. You're very unlikely to receive a ban if it's your first offence, and even IF you do, it's unlikely to be for longer than 28 days. You'll probably get points and a fine, but they may be lenient on you given your explanation providing it is your first offence.

I hope it goes well for you (mince)

That is horrible!!! I'm surprised they let you drive home, if there is no insurance then they normally impound the car there and then! They can also check at the roadside why the insurance is invalid which makes me think the policeman was having a bitchy night and took it out on you. That really is the worst case scenario - what are you (or any of us) supposed to do? Demand the certificate, ring the insurance company and double check each and every time we drive? Its not an attempt to avoid insurance, its an honest mistake. Don't worry about the criminal record thing - driving offences don't tend to count unless they are major ones - ie drink driving or careless driving leading to a death. I'm sure that a vast number of people have points or temp bans and still hold down great jobs xxx Keep us posted - really feel for you!

======= Date Modified 16 Sep 2010 08:32:42 =======
Oh no that's really bad luck :-(

However I think the police are warning you of the maximum penalty that can be given in this situation.

As far as I am aware first offences usually get a penalty of points on the licence plus a fine (means tested usually). If you were a repeat offender then that's probably a case for a permanent driving ban/loss of licence.

Sadly because it's insurance the fact that someone else pays for it doesn't excuse you from the responsibility of making sure the payments are made (in the eyes of the law) so it's unlikely the court will allow you to make that defence. This is even the case if the insurance company cancel your payment without you knowing But as I say it is the first time it's happened (right?) so you might get away with points and a fine which is rubbish but a whole lot better than a driving ban, lost licence and crim record.

Best of luck today and let us know how you get on. :-s

Smiley FAIL!!!

Clearly I did not mean to put the angry smiley at the end I don't know how that slipped in there - stupid tiny iPhone screen!

======= Date Modified 16 Sep 2010 08:43:14 =======
I'm sure you'll be fine Wal, you probably just got a PC who had had a very dull shift and thought he'd take it out on someone who was clearly more intelligent (and therefore made him feel inadequate as a man) and also had 5 stars - they only have 2 or 3 on their lapels don't they, or am I thinking of McDonalds staff?

Anyway, an acquaintance of mine got pulled over with no licence, no insurance, no tax and there was a record saying the car had been involved in a 'fill and run' at a petrol station. And the acquaintances record said he'd been chasing some dragons (nice! - when he was about to stay in my house for 2 weeks - he then stole most of our property to pay for the dragon chasing).

He got his car impounded, and was allowed to walk away!

My brother is ringing up his insurance this morning to find out what's going on with the policy. I'm going to try and forget about it for now and just try and get some work done. I've been reading up on the implications of inadvertently driving without insurance all night. It's an absolute offence apparently. Also called a mate of mine, who's a copper, and he said not to worry for now. I just have to find out exactly what the situation is with the insurance and then call him back for further advice on what to do before that other policeman calls me back later today.

Na, you'll only get 6 points and a £150 fine. Same thing happened to me.

If he genuinely thought you were uninsured why the heck did he still let you carry on driving?? I'd question that hard if you do get taken to court.

Doesn't your brother know if a payment has been missed? He should be able to check his bank statements and see, surely.

Either way, good luck, I hope it's some kind of administrative error that meant you were wrongly flagged up. Someone's been button bashing somewhere :)

Sorry to hear about this Wally. I have no clue what they do in such a situation but just wanted to wish you good luck. Hang on in there; It may not be as bad as the cop made it out to be and he was probably just listing the possibilities.

All the best and do keep us posted of any developments on this case.

I've found out what happened now. The insurance was cancelled by the provider at 5-30 pm yesterday. Unfortunately, I happened to go out in the car to buy mouthwash 7 hours after. My brother explained that if I get charged for the lapse, I'll get 6 points and an automatic ban as I've only been driving for 1 year. There's no way on earth either of us would be so irresponsible as to knowingly go out in a car without insurance, tax or MOT. So, what they've said is they may be able to produce a letter for me that will cover me for yesterday and I'll hopefully be okay. So fingers crossed.

hope it all turns out ok. Surely you can say the insurance company are at fault for cancelling it a) without telling you and b) after business hours?

Whew, not much work today so far - but I still have my driving license! It's all been sorted and, as far as they're concerned, I was insured when I was pulled by the police. So, they're sending me a letter stating this and I just have to send it off to the police. Thank heavens for that!

hi wally
hope you're feeling better! see, you're ok
:-)
love satchi

well done Wal! (up)