ILLEGAL DRIVER NIGHTMARE! somebody please wake me up!!

jr3b

Ok - so I am hit by a 3rd party and put my claim in as a non-fault accident. Everything going along tickety-boo and I'm now on the phone to the car hire company arranging delivery of a car to use while mine is in for repair [enter "rapid eye movement"] ... we (the car hire company and I) then go into a 3-way conference call with DVLA to confirm my driver licence details ... fine with me nothing to hide BUT ...
... I am then told that my licence was revoked in 2003. This apparently due to me receiving points in 2002 (first I am hearing about this) and the court wrote to me 3 times (no recollection of any letters ever received) asking for me to produce my licence for points to be endorsed on it and as there was no response my they contacted DVLA 12months later to have my licence revoked.
So I have been driving for last SIX YEARS as an illegal driver. This means that at the time of the accident I was driving illegally and as such my policy will be null and void ... I haven't informed them yet (though they are bound to find out when they do their own check) as I am going to seek legal advice on the matter. I have just sent a request to DVLA for all the relevant info under the DPA and FOIA as it is so long ago that all the info is archived so they couldn't even tell me which court contacted them. All they had was summary information.
What is my legal position? I have been driving, paying premium on insurance, paying road tax for the last SIX years and had no licence. I had no idea this was the case but how do I prove this? i am now left with the prospect of no car and no recourse to reimbursement from the 3rd party as they will no doub t do thorough checks also ...
ALSO - I forgot to say that during this six years although I have contacted the police on many occasions reporting incidents on the road (making it clear i was driving), I had points in 2005 (as far as I was concerned the first time ever) that I had sent off my licence to have it endorsed with points (which have now dropped off anyway) ... why would I do all of this if I KNEW that my licence had expired? I am fuming that I a going to have to PROVE that I didn't know .. how do I do this?[EMAIL="junior3b@yahoo.co.uk"][/EMAIL]

Quentin

If you are claiming off a third party, then you not being licenced is of no concern.

(But you do need to get one before you drive again of course!)

Oscar_The_Grouch

Your policy should not be null and void. You need to contact your insurers to tell them about the position, but do it by the way of "DVLA have mucked up my records and I am getting it all sorted, but at the moment they say I don't have a licence. I'll call again once it's been resolved but will not be driving my car in the meantime"

Follow this up in writing (best to ask for an e-mail address as well as sending a letter) and make it completely clear that you believe the issue to be an admin error on the part of DVLA. Then your insurers have no reason to cancel your policy.

As Quentin says, you are claiming of the third party, so you will still get your car repaired.

jr3b

Thanks guys ... I am due to speak with the Citizens Advice Bureau today so will get more guidance but your answers tally with a friend of mine that works in the car insurance industry ...

Anihilator

And what if it doesnt turn out to be an admin error.

Very unlikely that all this correspondence has gone missing.

More likely a chancer

jr3b

Might be a joke for you but def not for me. There is no way I would mess around with illegal driving - 2003 was the year my wife became pregnant with our first child ... you think I would risk driving my expectant wife around, drive the church minibus, liase with police, produce my docs in 2005, pay for insurance, tax, MOT knowing that I had no licence?? If that's all you have to say on here then shove off somewhere else unless you got something constructive to say

Yes there are idiots out there that are "chancers" ... I am NOT one of them

Oscar_The_Grouch

Anihilator, didn't your mother teach you "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything"? I'm pleased that you have an opinion (everyone is entitled to have one) but if you can't bring yourself to be helpful, go play somewhere else.

bryanb

If DVLA had your licence in 2005 to add points how come the 2003 points were not noticed then? Or am I mistaken and you don't have to send to DVLA for points to be added (No personal experience)

cajef

bryanb wrote: »

If DVLA had your licence in 2005 to add points how come the 2003 points were not noticed then? Or am I mistaken and you don't have to send to DVLA for points to be added (No personal experience)

The DVLA do not add the points, they are put on the licence by the convicting court where the offence was committed.

jr3b

bryanb wrote: »

If DVLA had your licence in 2005 to add points how come the 2003 points were not noticed then? Or am I mistaken and you don't have to send to DVLA for points to be added (No personal experience)

As cajef says the points are added to the hard-copy licence by the convicting court that covers the area in which the offence was committed. However I asked DVLA how they (DVLA) were informed of the points and they said that their records were updated electronically.

I then asked why this issue wasn't flagged up at that point because quite clearly from what they are saying I shouldn't even have been driving let alone incurring points. They stated that they were unable to deal with every incident due to the large number of cases/licences that are updated each day - it is impossible to keep up with it (they say)

So you can see why this is so frustrating for me ...