It is a criminal offence to drive a vehicle without insurance. Section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires the driver of a vehicle or a person who permits a person to use their vehicle on a public road to have an insurance policy covering against third party risks.
With the addition of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology at a police officer’s disposal, thousands of motorists are caught every year driving without insurance. This can happen for a number of reasons: a life event causes you to forget to renew your policy; it’s not your car and you believe it to be insured; you think your policy covers you to drive the car of another; or an emergency situation requires you to drive the vehicle when it is uninsured.
Driving without insurance is a strict area of the law and it is therefore vital that you seek legal advice from a road traffic offence solicitor to minimise the effects any sentence could have on your life.
Possible Penalties
Where convicted of driving without insurance, you could receive a number of points on your driving licence and a fine. In the most serious cases or where the points mean you have accrued 12 or more in total, you will be disqualified from driving for a period of time. In some circumstances, when the disqualification period expires you will have to retake your driving test.
Defences
Driving without insurance is a strict area of the law with limited defences available. However, in the event that you are charged with this offence while driving in the course of your employment you may have a defence if you can prove to the court that: (1) the vehicle did not belong to you; (2) that it was being used in the course of employment; and (3) that you did not know or have reason to believe that there was no insurance in place. All three of these conditions must be satisfied for this defence to be possible and it is important that you seek legal advice from driving offence solicitors if you believe this defence applies to your circumstances.
The Importance of Receiving Legal Advice
The effect that a conviction for driving without insurance can have on your family and work life can be significant. Penalty points and ultimately the loss of your licence could make it impossible to transport your children to school or travel to your place of work. Here at Keith J Tuck, our road traffic offence lawyers listen to your side of the story and consider your circumstances to ensure that we can put across the best possible defence to the court in an attempt to minimise the effects any sentence will have on your life.
Contact our Driving without Insurance Defence Solicitors Glasgow, Scotland
If you have been charged with driving without insurance, then contact our team without delay today to see how we can assist you. Contact us online, by phone on 01413362020 by calling into one of our offices in Glasgow City Centre.
