Court hearing for driving without insurance

alistair.long

I am very surprised that a trade driver cannot drive a taxi plated car.
I used to fix cars, and my job involved taking cars from clients, driving them and repairing them before returning it fixed.

I did have a accident last year when I was licensed so am not too bothered, but just shocked as I would have thought a machanic would have a right to drive the vehicle.
My friend always drives the fleet cars as he is the local runaround for MOT's and repairs, is he definatly committing a crime?

This is a new question then,
I had a private hire license and was hit by a car, I had trade insurance to let me drive the car (no money in taxi so was doing machanics, using taxi as a fall back). Am I covered or did I need to have private hire insurance also?

neverdespairgirl

What offence were you actually charged with, specifically? The summons should say The Naughtiness Act 1983 s.4(3) or something.

raskazz

alistair.long wrote: »

I am very surprised that a trade driver cannot drive a taxi plated car.
I used to fix cars, and my job involved taking cars from clients, driving them and repairing them before returning it fixed.

I did have a accident last year when I was licensed so am not too bothered, but just shocked as I would have thought a machanic would have a right to drive the vehicle.
My friend always drives the fleet cars as he is the local runaround for MOT's and repairs, is he definatly committing a crime?

This is a new question then,
I had a private hire license and was hit by a car, I had trade insurance to let me drive the car (no money in taxi so was doing machanics, using taxi as a fall back). Am I covered or did I need to have private hire insurance also?

The wording of the Act is clear:

"46 Vehicle, drivers’ and operators’ licences.

(1)Except as authorised by this Part of this Act—


...

(b)no person shall in a controlled district act as driver of any private hire vehicle without having a current licence under section 51 of this Act;

...

(2)If any person knowingly contravenes the provisions of this section, he shall be guilty of an offence."


It doesn't matter what the use of the vehicle is at the time - you simply cannot drive a private hire vehicle unless you hold a taxi licence. A mechanic is no different to the average man in the street in this respect (although there has never been a test case in court AFAIK).

Your friend needs to urgently check with his insurer that they will cover him for this use. If they know what they are doing, they will not, as he is driving cars for which he does not hold a licence, which is a standard exclusion in any motor insurance policy wording.

birkee

It seems pretty clear to me.
The OP was driving a car which was not part of his motor trade business process for which he was insured.
It's not insurance to drive anything at anytime.

Seems the system got more involved with the driving a TAXI situation.

lisyloo

The OPs question was not about the insurance situation it was about the court treatment.
They offered the option NOT to go to court, then appeared to withdraw that option.
Kingstreets answer in post #27 seems to be come closest to answering that and it would appear that they now require attendance because the potential punishment requires attendance.

kingstreet

lisyloo wrote: »

The OPs question was not about the insurance situation it was about the court treatment.
They offered the option to go to court, then appeared to withdraw that option.
Kingstreets answer in post #27 seems to be come closest to answering that and it would appear that they now require attendance because the potential punishment requires attendance.

I'd again qualify that in the normal course of a motoring offence, the obligation to appear is normally reserved for situations where consideration will be given to disqualification.

In the circumstances described, I'm not sure what the OP has actually been summonsed for, so my "normal course" may be wide of the mark in this instance.

The OP needs to confirm exactly what offences he is alleged to have committed.

ILW

lisyloo wrote: »

The OPs question was not about the insurance situation it was about the court treatment.
They offered the option NOT to go to court, then appeared to withdraw that option.
Kingstreets answer in post #27 seems to be come closest to answering that and it would appear that they now require attendance because the potential punishment requires attendance.

My guess would be that there is a possibility of him losing his license, they don't do that by post.

golfergti

I went to see a solicitor today and have been advised the following.
Firstly there were 2 offences, I thought there was only the offence of driving the taxi as the cops gave me a producer. Now when I replied to to the first summons I only sent back my response regarding the private hire offence.
They also wanted details to show I was insured to drive a normal car. I assumed as they gave me a producer and I have subsequently been to the police station to show my valid insurance docs that was fine. The only reason they let me drive away was because they checked my cover note which clearly stated I was ok to drive a normal car.
So now what I have to do is when I goto to court is take the producer receipt and my certificate to show I was insured at the time which will mean I dont get points and dont get a fine.
Regarding driving the taxi I will get a fine of £155 plus the court fee.

Sally_A

Unlucky golfergti, not having been up in front of the magistrates, please ask them how a motor trader is supposed to ever fix a taxi if they are not allowed to test drive it (unless they have a taxi licence). The more that ask, the more they will see the problem. This needs to be sorted for motor traders UK wide.

gordikin

Sally_A wrote: »

Unlucky golfergti, not having been up in front of the magistrates, please ask them how a motor trader is supposed to ever fix a taxi if they are not allowed to test drive it (unless they have a taxi licence). The more that ask, the more they will see the problem. This needs to be sorted for motor traders UK wide.

...you can fix any vehicle without driving it...my MOT testing station does it every year for me.