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Police seize vehicle with no insurance on Duke Street in Formby
- Formby Bubble
- Jan 4, 2017
- 3 min read
Vehicles without insurance have been towed away in Formby
A vehicle in Formby was seized approximately 6:35pm on Monday 2nd January for having no insurance, the owner of the car had to walk away and his car was taken by the police Recovery tow-truck to be crushed!
This is only one of many vehicles that are seized in our Bubble. If you don’t pay your car tax or insurance, either intentionally or because you ‘just forget’, you need to be aware that the penalties are severe.
Many people think that an untaxed or uninsured car on private land is safe from the grip of the authorities, but, this is far from the truth. Unless you register a Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN) with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), then your vehicle still needs to be taxed and insured, even if it is parked on private land, such as a company car park or your own driveway.
Insurance on your car
You must have motor insurance to drive your vehicle on UK roads.
Third party insurance is the legal minimum. This means you’re covered if you have an accident causing damage or injury to any other person, vehicle, animal or property. It doesn’t cover any other costs like repair to your own vehicle.
Uninsured vehicles
Driving without insurance
It’s illegal to drive a vehicle on a road or in a public place without at least 3rd party insurance.
Even if the vehicle itself is insured, if you’re not correctly insured to drive it you could get penalised.
Penalties for uninsured drivers:
The police could give you a fixed penalty of £300 and 6 penalty points if you’re caught driving a vehicle you’re not insured to drive.
If the case goes to court you could get:
an unlimited fine
disqualified from driving
The police also have the power to seize, and in some cases, destroy the vehicle that’s being driven uninsured.
Rules in England, Wales and Scotland
You must have motor insurance for your vehicle if you use it on roads and in public places.
You do not need to insure your vehicle if it is kept off the road and declared as off the road (SORN). This rule is called ‘continuous insurance enforcement’.
If not, you could:
get a fixed penalty of £100
have your vehicle wheel-clamped, impounded or destroyed
face a court prosecution, with a possible maximum fine of £1,000
It doesn’t matter who is driving the car - if you’re the registered keeper, you could get penalised.
You will also still have to pay for your insurance on top of any fines received.
You can check if your vehicle is insured on askMID.
Penalties for not taxing your car
These days, you should automatically receive a reminder to renew your car tax around two or three weeks before your car tax is due. This reminder contains a reference that you can use to tax your car easily online. However, while this help is automatic, so are the penalties. The computers at the DVLA know if you own a car and know if it is taxed or not, so they can act quickly to punish you if you break the rules.
If you have not taxed your car within two weeks of the due date, you will receive an automatic £80 fine in the post. If you don’t pay this, you could face court, and a fine rising to £1,000.
Taxing your car – it is easy
Clearly it is in your interests to make sure your car tax is up to date and this is really easy to do online here. You don’t even need your car insurance or MOT documents as these are stored digitally and accessed directly by the system when you apply. However, you will need a valid car insurance policy, fully paid up, and an up-to-date MOT.
If your car has been on a SORN, you will need to produce your documents (V5, Insurance and MOT certificate) at the post office or DVLA office in order to tax your car and end the SORN period.
For more information visit the DVLA website:
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