Car insurance error.

[Goober]

In July I took my car for its MOT and realised from the milage on the certificate that I needed to change my annual milage with Churchill insurance as I was doing more miles than I arranged. I phoned them up and gave them the details, at a cost of £25 for admin.
Insurance was due to expire last Wednesday so when renewal notice came through I did some phoning around to try and get a cheaper quote. One of the quotes was lots cheaper so I called Churchill to cancel. Later found out that the so-called cheaper quote was for an inferior policy so backed away from it and tried to reinstate current policy. They said as I had cancelled that I should call them the day before it actually ended to set it up again. So I did. (Last Tuesday)
At no point was I uninsured. Or so I thought.
On Saturday I was out with DD and returning home at lunch time when I was pulled over by a Policeman.
He told me I wasn't insured. Horrified, I explained the above and he goes off to his car to call Churchill while I am left in my car with DD. I phoned DH to explain what was happenning and he said that the insurance docs had come in the post while I'd been out. I told him to open them so I could tell the policeman about the docs. The registration on new docs had missed the first digit of my number. Meaning I wasn't covered. It turns out that the error was made back in July and my insurance has been invalid since. No paperwork came through after the changes so I didn't realise.
Explained to the policeman who was very good about it. I am glad he pulled me over, though embarrassing.
Am furious.
Have made a complaint to Churchill and am waiting to hear back from them, but what is likely to happen here???

Hi Goober
I had a valid insurance policy through the AA but when I retaxed my car the DVLA website insisted I wasn't insured.
I checked with the AA who were baffled but resent all the details to the DVLA. It still failed to process so I had to go to the Post Office instead of doing it online.
The AA man said it happens quite often so it was probably the DVLA end that failed not your last minute insurance panic.

Not sure how Curchill can help. I had to change a tiny detail on my policy to resend it but even that didnt work.

It is the Directgov site not the DVLA!

Your insurance details should be recorded on the Motor Insurance Database (MID). This is used by the police and the DVLA to check that your are insured. Your insurance company is supposed to put changes to your policy, renewals, etc. on the database within 7 days but it doesn't always happen. Motorists are regularly pulled over for having no insurance and left without their car simply because the insurer failed to update MID correctly.

Your insurance has not been invalid since July. A clerical error by your insurer doesn't invalidate your insurance. However, the MID has clearly been incorrect since then. I expect that Churchill will simply correct the MID and reissue your insurance documents, although it is possible the premium will change if they used the registration to determine the make and model of vehicle.

This is Churchill's fault. They missed the first digit out of my registration number.