With the ever increasing number of accidents on the roads each year in circumstances where people drive without Insurance, the enforcement authorities and in particular the police; have increased their efforts to clamp down on individuals who drive without Insurance.
Section 143 of The Road Traffic Act 1988, makes it an offence to use, cause or permit to be used a motor vehicle on a road or other public place when there is not in force a policy of insurance.
This means that if you drive a vehicle without Insurance then you will be guilty of this offence.
This offence will result in the endorsement of 6-8 penalty points on your driving licence or a discretionary disqualification as well as a fine.
Exceptional Circumstances in No Insurance cases – Special Reasons
In certain circumstances, a conviction for driving without Insurance does not have to result in points being imposed.
The offence is designed to target individuals who intentionally avoid paying Insurance premiums and drive on the road. However, there are often circumstances when individuals are prosecuted for the offence when they honestly and genuinely believed they had insurance and did not realise that they were in fact driving without insurance when they were stopped by the police. In such a situation, you are advised to forward a ‘Special Reasons’ argument. If the Court is satisfied that you acted reasonably and diligently in all the circumstances, then a successful argument can prevent the imposition of points.
Examples of ‘Special Reasons’ arguments which could be used in driving without insurance situations include: a cancellation of an Insurance policy by an Insurer without this being communicated to the individual in question; faults attributable to the Insurance Company that has resulted in no policy being in force; where the individual drives upon relying on another party’s assurance that insurance cover is in place and any other situation where there appears to be no moral culpability.
Our vast experience in dealing with ‘Special Reasons’ argument in motoring offences means that we will be in a position to assess your circumstances and let you know within minutes whether we believe you have a ‘Special Reasons’ argument which could be used to avoid a ban and / or the receiving of 6-8 penalty points.
Knowing whether you are able to rely on a Special Reasons Argument is even more important if you have pre-existing points on your driving licence as you may potentially face a 6 month driving disqualification under the totting up provisions (Please see are Exceptional Hardship section for more information). Alternatively, if you are within your probationary period of driving, (See our section on New Drivers) then points received for driving without insurance could result in your driving licence being revoked. It is therefore essential that you make contact with us as soon as possible to ascertain your legal position.
For an explanation of ‘Special Reasons’ arguments in general, see our section on Law on Special Reasons.
To find out if your circumstances may give rise to ‘Special Reasohttps://www.caineslaw.co.uk/index.php/services/motoring-offences/special-reason/ns’, or for any advice in respect of driving without Insurance feel free to Contact us for a free consultation on 0800 6441544 and ask to speak with one of our motoring lawyers. Our team will be happy to answer your questions and advise you.
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Case Studies
Case Study 1
Our client was facing prosecution for driving without insurance. Although he had purchased an insurance policy, he later discovered that the policy had been cancelled by the insurers without his knowledge.
He instructed us to represent him on the matter. We made contact with the insurers and having undertaken thorough investigation, discovered that our client’s policy had been cancelled due to an issue in respect of the validation of his no claims bonus. Apparently the insurers had made contact with our client to rectify this, having not received a response from him, they then wrote to advise him in respect of cancellation. Our client advised that he had not received any letters in respect of the cancellation. Had he have received notification of any problems with his insurance, he would have resolved the matter immediately.
In light of this, we made contact with the insurers in an attempt to get them to admit fault. The insurers confirmed that they had in fact sent a number of letters to our client. However, due to an admin error at their end, they had not secured our clients full postal address at the time the policy was taken out and for this reason any letters sent by them were being sent to an incorrect address. In view of this, despite them cancelling his policy, they were willing to send us a letter whereby they would have considered him as being insured on the date he was stopped by the police for the offence. Our involvement led to the case being withdrawn by the Crown prosecution service and our client also managed to recover his legal fees.
Case Study 2
Our client was involved in a road traffic collision. Police subsequently arrived at the scene to investigate the matter and upon doing so noted that our client was not insured to drive her vehicle. She informed the officers that she genuinely believed that she had insurance in place as her father was always responsible for arranging this for her. She subsequently received a court summons for driving without insurance and instructed us to represent her. Given that she was a new driver, it was imperative that she avoided the 6-8 points ordinarily awarded by the court for driving without insurance so as to avoid a revocation of her licence.
After making contact with the insurers, it was discovered that the policy had expired and had not been renewed by the father. However, given that our client had the genuine belief that she had cover in place and given this mistaken belief was also held by the father, we represented them at Court in respect of advancing a special reasons argument. This is an argument to persuade the court that due to the circumstances of the offending it would be unfair for our client to be penalised.
The Court accepted our special reasons argument and our client avoided the points, her licence remaining intact.
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