Esure Pulling Out From Bradford

vax2002

A driving licence is not an ID card, would anyone have a problem taking it with you ? The Driver number could then be linked to the insurance database which would soon tell the police what car you were insured to drive.
Whats needed is some "old fashioned" policing, sitting on !!!!!! watching ANPR cameras will not catch the 40% of Bradford drivers without valid insurance, checking licences and OBDII VIN numbers will.

shaun_from_Africa

But when the Government said "ID cards" the nation went "No way"

This was for a number of different reasons.
Every adult would be required to have one, you would have to pay for it, and you might be required to show it at any time.

None of these would apply with a driving licence as every driver should already have a licence so no extra cost is involved, and they would only need to show it if stopped when driving, and as you can already be asked to produce it at a police station if requested, there isn't really that much difference.

fivetide

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

This was for a number of different reasons.
Every adult would be required to have one, you would have to pay for it, and you might be required to show it at any time.

None of these would apply with a driving licence as every driver should already have a licence so no extra cost is involved, and they would only need to show it if stopped when driving, and as you can already be asked to produce it at a police station if requested, there isn't really that much difference.

Yes but:

You could use the new driving license to get on an EasyJet plane for example.

Two thirds of the UK adult population has a license to drive and they've paid for it

If people ask for photo ID how many people have thier passport in the pocket?

Seems to me a smart card which knows what driving entitlements you have etc might not have been a bad move. The OP said people would have to carry their license by law, that to me is being asked to carry proof of ID not being allowed to show it at a cop shop within seven days as it currently is.

5t.

shaun_from_Africa

The OP said people would have to carry their license by law

but only when driving.
As already stated, a police officer can already stop you at any time whilst you are driving and ask to see your licence, (they do not have to give any reason for this, nor do you have to have committed or be suspected of committing an offence) and if you can't show it they can tell you to take it to a police station, so requiring drivers to have their licence with them in the car isn't that big a change.

vikingaero

NeverAgain wrote: »

...We're all skirting around this subject for a reason...

Possibly, although I think most of us despise uninsured and scam crash drivers purely because of their criminal conduct.

I don't even want to know their names, let alone their ethnic origin.

Just get 'em nicked, confiscate everything that's not nailed down, and lock 'em up.

The point here is that we're all skirting around the issue for fear of being labelled racist. Let's be honest, the main (and I've underlined, bolded and italicised that to mean general) perpetrators of this crime are Asians.

Maybe if the Asian society in Bradford start getting hit with massive premium increases and insurance refusals then they might stop turning a blind eye to it?

fivetide

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

and if you can't show it they can tell you to take it to a police station,

Exactly so a law making you carry it would mean not having it might well mean a fine from the officer.

so requiring drivers to have their licence with them in the car isn't that big a change.

Getting fined for not having it on you is a big change. It would mean people carrying them all the time - like an ID card.

5t.

davidjwest

vikingaero wrote: »

Maybe if the Asian society in Bradford start getting hit with massive premium increases and insurance refusals then they might stop turning a blind eye to it?

Maybe the insurance companies would be prosecuted for racism as well.

The problem isn't the premiums but the fact that a lot of people appear to be driving without insurance in the area, the police ought to be clamping down on this as it's the law-abiding citizens who are suffering. Maybe it's time for me to stop being such an upstanding citizen as I don't get any credit from it, the opposite in fact.

Arg

vikingaero wrote: »

If all Insurers pulled out then as Strider says it won't affect the people who perpetrate these frauds. They will simply use relatives, friends and tenanted properties across the North.

The people who it will affect will be the normal Joes in Bradford.

If there's no insurance then no ones paying out for their scams, everyone wins.

davidjwest

Arg wrote: »

If there's no insurance then no ones paying out for their scams, everyone wins.

They are if the "victim" is from outside the area and therefore insured!

NeverAgain_2

...If there's no insurance then no ones paying out for their scams, everyone wins...

Unfortunately not, as a claim against an uninsured driver can be made to the Motor Insurers' Bureau - which is funded by, you've guessed it, law abiding premium payers.

http://www.mib.org.uk/Home/en/default.htm