7 days to produce driving documents, can't find 2

DaveMcDavid

(also posted in motoring forum)

Regular user, posting under new ID.

(background) I was in a minor crash on Wednesday, I rear ended a vehicle, no injuries either side, police attended the scene and gave me 7 days to produce my documents.

Problem is, while I do have my MOT cert and photo ID, I can't find my counterpart or certificate of insurance.

I've told my insurers to expect a claim, and they're putting a copy of my certificate of insurance in the post. I also applied for a duplicate counterpart on Thursday, but it says to allow 3 weeks.

I am properly insured, licensed, taxed and MOT'd, but what happens if I go to the police station and tell them I'm waiting for two of the documents they need to arrive in the post?

jclegs

If your insurance is through a broker/physical shop go in personally and ask for a certificate or cover note to be printed off. If not go into the station you chose to produce at and produce what you can and ask for a discretionary extension to enable you to receive your certificate in the post.

dmxdave

This happened to a friend who was involved in an accident that was not his fault. He was asked to produce his documents and like you could not find the counterpart, AFAIK he ended up being fined for it but will confirm when I speak to him.

DaveMcDavid

Was it a fine only, or points aswell? I could suck up a fine as I was stupid enough to lose them, but I'd hate to lose my clean licence over this.

wacko911

I would phone cop shop and ask

esuhl

I thought the police had stopped issuing "7 day wonders" as they can check DVLA and insurance databases... Is it worth asking them if they can just check your records rather than have you go in with the documents?

dmxdave

DaveMcDavid wrote: »

Was it a fine only, or points aswell? I could suck up a fine as I was stupid enough to lose them, but I'd hate to lose my clean licence over this.

OK just heard from him, he explained and they give him an extension to produce, new license was £20, so nothing on record!

DaveMcDavid

Thanks!

DaveMcDavid

Went into police station, got a 14 day extension, they seemed fairly relaxed about it, didn't hassle me about it, just said "oh right, well how long did they say it would take for your documents to arrive?"

gawa75

I agree with the post above. Surely you see on all these police programmes that [STRIKE]ignorant and arrogant pigs[/STRIKE] traffic cops can check instantly if you have insurance etc. Does that not work over here too? Would have thought so, and it would be done there and then?

MattLFC

The database can be used at the roadside, however it is essentially a "pre-checking" tool, similar to a pre-application check for a credit card - it is not relied upon by the police, because it can be (and quite often is) incorrect.

My car was siezed last December (2010) for no insurance, because the MID was showing as none held, and the MIB could not confirm the status due to my insurer (Quinn Direct) being closed at the time the car was siezed (it was 21:00ish at night and they shut at 19:00) and stupid me had left the certificate in the house as I had taxed the car online a few days previous. The MIB did advise the PC to give me the benefit of the doubt as they could see the car has been insured upto the day before (it had actually been the same policy number for 4.5 years). Anyway, she was in the process of writing a producer, when her jobsworth suerior came along and said he'd sieze it if it were him (in other words, take the effin thing lol).

Anyway, a few days later, went to pick it up, the police didn't bother with the database after seeing the certificate, they instead telephoned the insurer who confirmed it was insured on the day I went to pick it up. Got whacked for £250 to collect it iirc.

Stupid !!!!take police decided to rely on the information from the database, despite my inusurers faxing confirmation of insurance to them on 3 occasions, and I was taken to court in August. Summons said it was to be a plea hearing and the judge would not reside over any evidence, so didn't take documents, and when I turned up he asked the bloody documents lol. So had another hearing 2 weeks later, took documents, and he got a member of the court staff and CPS to telephone the insurer, who confirmed I was insured on 5th Dec 2010 and the CPS representative came back and withdrew the charges, with a real sense of disappointment on her face, and the judge told me I could be on my way lol.

That's how fantastic the databases are!! And why when common sense eventually prevails, a human speaks to a human rather than relying on a computer. I never did find out why my car fell off the database, but the CPS claimed it had fallen off on 3 seperate occasions since the siezure - as my insurer could not/were unwilling to provide a reason (they did blame it on the MIB, who in turn blamed it on the insurer), I cancelled my insurance with Quinn Direct after 5 years and actually got a cheaper quote with someone else lol.

At the end of the day, the database is only as reliable as the information that it is fed. The police will hopefully want to be certain on this occasion.