CONTACT US

Driving without insurance

Driving without insurance is a criminal offence. The law provides for ‘strict liability’ and you can be found guilty regardless of whether you were aware that your vehicle was uninsured. This is because of the implications that come with crashing or hitting someone in an uninsured vehicle.

For this reason, it may seem pointless speaking to a lawyer to defend what is often just a simple mistake. However, our assistance and representation could make the difference when it comes to you retaining your licence.

In many cases, you can plead ‘special reasons’, for example, if you honestly and genuinely believed that you were insured, we can persuade the court not to disqualify you and in some cases not endorse your licence with penalty points.

To stand the best chance of keeping your licence when you’ve been caught driving while uninsured, call our team of specialist motoring offence solicitors on 07971 520407 or fill in the enquiry form on this page and we will get back to you. If you require immediate assistance, please call us on our 24/7 mobile number on 07971 520407.

For more information on our fees, please click here to view our up-to-date schedule of costs.

Vector illustration of a classic telephone handset.

How can we help? Contact us today to discuss your requirements.

Want to speak to us now? Call us now 07971 520407.

It is a legal requirement to have insurance if you own or drive a vehicle. Failure to have insurance will usually lead to prosecution, as there is no discretionary defence – this is known as an offence of strict liability. These cases are usually dealt with in a Magistrates’ Court with a fine and penalty points imposed.

In some cases, drivers are genuinely unaware that they have no insurance, usually because the policy has been cancelled without their knowledge or there was a failure on the insurance company’s part to renew or update an existing policy.

Should this be the case, you should speak to a solicitor as soon as possible to help you establish who is responsible for your lack of insurance. We have also had cases where a decision to drive uninsured was made in an emergency situation, and we have avoided a ban or points.

If you are driving another person’s car, then you must be insured to drive that vehicle. Car owners must ensure that those allowed to drive have suitable insurance, or else they run the risk of being prosecuted also.

The penalties

Driving without insurance is a serious offence. The police can issue you with a fixed penalty of £300 and 6 points on your licence. Your case can be taken to court and the penalties can be more severe including:

  • an unlimited fine
  • 6 to 8 penalty points
  • a discretionary driving ban
  • possible seizure and destruction of the uninsured vehicle.

Causing death by driving without insurance

If you cause a fatality while driving an uninsured vehicle, you will face much tougher penalties, including:

  • minimum 12-month mandatory disqualification
  • up to 11 penalty points on your licence
  • up to two years imprisonment.

For the best chance possible of easing the consequences of driving without insurance get in touch with our solicitors today.

Should you be facing allegations of uninsured driving remember that all hope is not lost when it comes to prosecution. The driving offence lawyers at Flint Bishop are dedicated to helping those who have failed to insure their vehicle keep their licence and, where we can, ease the consequences of this error as we know you may have never intended to break the law.

We will work towards protecting your interests by gathering relevant evidence, providing expert representation during court proceedings and exploring every option available to you – explaining everything in plain English.

With offices in Leeds, Sheffield and York, we are able to provide assistance to drivers across Yorkshire and the rest of the UK.

For more information on our fees, please click here to view our up-to-date schedule of costs.

If you have been accused of driving without insurance, our professional and approachable team is waiting to hear from you. You can get in touch by using the details on the enquiry form, or if you require immediate assistance, please call us on our 24/7 mobile number on 07971 520407.

Scroll to next section

Scroll back to the top

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

For more information on how these cookies work, please refer to our Cookies Policy.

Strictly necessary cookies

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Analytics Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our website. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous.

Force24 cookies & tracking

This website utilises Force24’s marketing automation platform. Force24 cookies are first-party cookies and are enabled at the point of cookie acceptance on this website. The cookies are named below:

F24_autoID
F24_personID

They allow us to understand our audience engagement thus allowing better optimisation of marketing activity.