No tax & insurance

Rover_Driver

The offence may be dealt with by a fixed penalty, or as in the OP's case, summarily.

thenudeone

Joe_Horner wrote: »

For a S.143 offence you must be using the car. That's a bit of a grey area because it doesn't just mean driving,

This is now OT since we've established that it's actually S144A involved and not S143, but it's interesting to debate anyway.

It was reported here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2556101
that merely parking a car on a road was sufficient to constitute "use"

raskazz wrote: »

Note that it makes no reference to 'control' of the vehicle, rather use. Nor does a person have to be in possession of the keys, or be driving a vehicle, to be 'using' the vehicle (a vehicle rolling downhill with the engine switched off is being 'used', as in the case of Saycell v Bond; and a vehicle parked and unattended in the road is being 'used' by the owner, as in the case of Andrews v Kershaw).

and there are forum reports for successful prosecutions in exactly these circumstances http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?51388-Car-insurance-question&p=570858&viewfull=1#post570858
So a prosecution under S143 in these circumstances (which WOULD carry points) is possible, although it might not survive a robust defence.