Caught driving without insurance, twice

[FitLime]

Not me. A friend. What are the chances she will lose her license?

It's much worse than car insurance rates. What if she hits a pedestrian they end up paralyzed? They don't have insurance to claim on, they can sue but your friend has no money.

There is actually a fund for this that you can claim off, if you were injured by a uninsured driver, or a hit and run driver.

Who pays for that fund?

The fund is paid for by a % of everyone's insurance.

Driving without insurance is a strict liability offence - ie if she has no insurance she is guilty no matter what. However in some cases you could put up a case for Special Reason Not to Endorse - so for example if your direct debit failed and the insurance company emailed you about it and it went into your junk folder you might have an argument.

However, it sounds like a slam dunk to me and the minimum sentence is 6 points. So if she already has 6 points she will hit 12 and will be automatically suspended from driving by the courts. She will be asked to attend court for this ban to be given to her, and advised not to drive to the court alone (as she won’t be allowed to drive herself home, bans start straight away).

Hope she gets what she deserves, not sure why you’d want to be friends with someone who has history for behaving like she’s entitled.

behaving like she’s entitled

You're confusing criminality with entitlement there is a world of difference

I got caught driving without insurance a couple of year ago. I had been told by a traffic police officer that I was covered to drive that vehicle, turned out I wasn't! The courts showed no sympathy whatsoever and gave me 8 points, on top of the 6 I already had. I had to beg them to keep my license and not ban me.

Your friend will definitely get banned. The courts will take a very very dim view that she didn't sort it all out after the first offence.

Thanks for the replies. Yep, I think it will be a ban. She has to wait to receive a form I think, then complete it and send it off. I guess she will then get a court summons.

Unfortunately, she sounds like the thoughtless, egocentric type of person who will continue to drive whilst banned.

Can you take in her DD if she goes to jail?

She’s also been driving with the vehicle untaxed as you can’t get tax without insurance.

Stupid cow. I hope she does lose her licence. And if she was banned and still drove I’d have no hesitation in reporting her.

I have been driving for 37 years and had insurance from many different companies. None of them have automatically renewed. I would be pretty pissed off if they did.

As an aside why has her child missed so much school?

She will be banned. Definitely. 6 points for each offence (previous no insurance and this one) - once you have 12 points on your licence you are automatically banned.

It would be tricky to take her daughter in. She lives 20 miles away and her daughter goes to school 40 miles beyond that (don't ask!). Her daughter is in Y11 now and unlikely to pass any GCSEs.

She will likely lose her job and she certainly won't be able to get her daughter to school any more. The whole thing is about to implode.

Are social services involved?

She started having anxiety and school avoidance and my friend was a single working parent at the time with money worries so she let the daughter skip school. She has since met and moved in with a bf hence the large distances.

Very harsh responses on here. This lady obviously needs help (and friendship). And her dd even more so, by the sounds of it.

I don't know if SS are involved. This is all so far removed from anything I have experience of. Would they be? I guess they would with the school avoidance stuff going on for 2 years and a court date looming for that?

Thank you havingto. The driving without insurance twice is inexcusable imo. But this is a long standing friendship with someone I clicked with in the beginning and we have been through marriage and divorce and having kids and much more besides. Her life was spiralled out of control in recent years. She works so hard (full-time) and is in denial about what's about to happen. I want to be there for her, but I'm also very disappointed in her. Her head in the sands attitude worries me (eg, she "hopes" she's not going to get a ban and doesn't seem too worried about it).

Very harsh responses on here. This lady obviously needs help (and friendship). And her dd even more so, by the sounds of it.

Everyone needs help, everyone has their own shit to deal with. Most of us don't break the law and endanger other people in the process.

She deserves a ban but probably won't get one. There was someone in the newspaper recently with about 50 points on their licence. You are supposed to lose your licence at 12 points. The whole system needs reviewing.

I can't help but feel sorry for her, if I'm honest. Yes she was bloody foolish, but Does mean her life should be ruined because of it. It must be hard for her worrying about her job and having the Education on her back as well.

I think the best thing you could do as a friend is to get social services involved. This is obviously someone who struggles with having an adult life.

There will be some involvement in the future if she goes to prison.

I'm not saying she isn't a criminal, just that some people cope better with life / responsibilities.

A social worker can work with the family, the school and other agencies to keep the dd in school.

None of them have automatically renewed. I would be pretty pissed off if they did

I'm afraid you are mistaken, they do - motor insurance is a legal oddity as is one of the only types of contract where your acceptance can be implied from your actions (taking your car out onto the road).

The acceptance of pretty much all other forms of contract need to be explicitly stated in either writing or speech.

If you have arranged alternative insurance, then that will 'trump' the default position, but you really do have to be going some to be driving uninsured if you have previously held insurance.

The courts have specifically interpreted motor insurance contracts in this way for policy reasons, as an effort to reduce the number of uninsured drivers on the road.

The overwhelming majority of 'driving while uninsured' cases involve new cars, or borrowing someone else's car.

I'm afraid you are mistaken, they do - motor insurance is a legal oddity as is one of the only types of contract where your acceptance can be implied from your actions (taking your car out onto the road).

So if I leave my car in my driveway they can't take the premium out of my bank account? How would they know?