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No insurance.

Charge

Using (or causing or permitting to be used) a motor vehicle on a road or other public place when there is not in force a policy of insurance or security against third party risks

Road Traffic Act 1988, s 143

Maximum penalty - Fine level 5. May disqualify for any period and/or until defendant has passed a driving test. Must endorse unless special reasons.

Penalty points - 6-8.

Fixed penalty - £200/6 points
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Other public place. Not private property but can include such places as car parks.

A road. Means any highway (including footpaths and bridleways) and any other road to which the public has access and includes bridges.

Security in respect of third party risks. The requirement to have insurance or a security does not apply to a vehicle owned by a person who has deposited with the Accountant General of the Supreme Court the sum of £500,000, at a time when the vehicle is being driven under the owner's control. Nor does it apply to vehicles owned by bodies such as local authorities or the police. Certain other undertakings may have instead of insurance a security given by an insurer that the undertaking will meet any liability it may incur.

Time limit. Subject to an overall maximum of three years, proceedings may be brought within 6 months from when, in the prosecutor's opinion, he had sufficient evidence to warrant proceedings. A certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor as to when that date was constitutes conclusive evidence on that point.

Burden of proof. If the prosecution prove that the defendant used a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, the burden of proof shifts to the defendant to establish that he was insured. The defendant does not have to prove beyond reasonable doubt; he need only prove that he was probably insured.

Insurance certificate. This is in law the main item of proof of insurance and until it has been delivered to the insured he is held not to be insured. Mere proof that he has paid the premium or holds an actual policy is not sufficient.

Using on a road or other public place. This expression does not in law only mean driving the vehicle along the road; its mere presence on a road, jacked up and without a battery, may constitute using on a road (Pumbien v Vines [1996] RTR 37, [1996] Crim LR 124). A vehicle which is being towed is being used. In any given case where doubt exists consult the legal adviser.

A person, limited company or body corporate which owns a vehicle that is being driven in the course of the owner's business is using the vehicle.

Causing involves an express or positive mandate from the defendant to the driver.

Permitting. Permission must be given by someone able to permit or withhold permissions but may be express or inferred.

Defence open to employed drivers. An employed driver cannot be convicted if he can prove that:

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(a) the vehicle did not belong to him; and
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(b) it was not in his possession under a hiring contract or on loan to him; and
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(c) he was using it in the course of his employment; and
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(d) he did not know and had no reason to believe he was not insured. The degree of proof required from the defendant is to prove that this defence is probably true; he does not have to prove beyond reasonable doubt.

The Motor Insurers' Bureau is a company funded by insurers transacting compulsory motor insurance. Under an agreement with the Secretary of State for Transport the Bureau, subject to certain limitations and exceptions, will compensate the victims of uninsured motorists. A brief outline of the scheme is given here (for the full details see the text of the agreement which is published by HMSO).

To obtain compensation the victim must obtain judgment in a civil court against the uninsured driver, having given the MIB notice within seven days of starting the proceedings. If the judgment is not met within seven days the victim will be entitled to be compensated by the MIB.

Compensation is payable for personal injury or for damage to property (except for the first £300 of the claim in respect of property damage and this figure will be the relevant limit of a compensation order made against an uninsured driver in the magistrates' court).

There are exceptions to claims against the MIB such as claims in relation to Crown vehicles but more particularly where damage is to the claimant's own vehicle which he himself has failed to insure as required by the Road Traffic Act or where the claimant is the passenger in a vehicle which he knew had been stolen or unlawfully taken or was being used without insurance.

A separate agreement covers the case of victims of untraced drivers.
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