URGENT: Contravention for driving without insurance.

kingstreet

If convicted and six points are awarded, the DVLA will revoke his licence. He must then re-apply for a provisional and go through training and the two tests again.

NB this is not court mandated. If more than six points are accrued in the first two years of passing a test, the licence revocation is an administrative function of DVLA. It is not a disqualification.

fmdddv

I am writing to the VRES Complaints & Appeal instead of waiting for the court order. As the officer knew that our insurance was valid whilst he was still with my husband. He should not have seized the car. Seizure is to stop the offence carrying on not to fine by another route. I will at the same time dispute the whole thing and see what they say.

custardy

fmdddv wrote: »

I am writing to the VRES Complaints & Appeal instead of waiting for the court order. As the officer knew that our insurance was valid whilst he was still with my husband. He should not have seized the car. Seizure is to stop the offence carrying on not to fine by another route. I will at the same time dispute the whole thing and see what they say.

valid while with him,or before they stopped him?
two different points

TonyMMM

The fact that the officer spoke to the company at the time makes it certain he/she would have confirmed that your husband was seen driving/stopped before that time, so it sounds like you have no defence.

The removal of the vehicle is a separate matter and something you can pursue.

deutsch

deutsch wrote: »

why was the vehicle uninsured before the purchase? did a policy lapse? was it declared SORN whilst uninsured?

just curious. doesn't make sense to try purchase insurance the last minute the night before and risk going out without insurance in the morning.

which insurance company did you obtain a quote from and why if you wanted to choose instalments were you not given the option to pay by card a deposit? did the card payment system fail? i'm not aware of a non deposit instalment payment option for insurance companies out there?

after further posts, i'm still curious to the above questions!

Aretnap

The officer was entitled to seize the vehicle if your husband failed to produce his insurance certificate on demand, and the officer had reasonable grounds for belief that he was driving without insurance at the time he stopped him. The law doesn't provide a get-out clause if he gets insurance before the vehicle is seized or if there's another, insured driver available to take over driving.

Arguably he shouldn't seize it in one of those situations as the intention behind the law, I believe, was to prevent further uninsured driving rather than to act as an additional punishment. However that didn't find its way into the actual the wording of the law so it sounds like the seizure was lawful. I wouldn't hold out too much hope of getting your £150 back, though some forces do have a policy of not seizing vehicles in some circumstances so he may be lucky.

Ideophreak's questions are good ones.

Yorkie1

OP, I echo the suggestion that you go over to the pepipoo forums.

This is a really technical matter which turns on precise timings. They are accustomed to dealing with things like this without the additional comments / judgements.

Parking_Trouble

Sounds like your husband didn't have a valid policy when he left the house in the car.

Also how did you get the car back without evidence of a policy?

I am going to join the pro-insurance brigade on this one (a very rare occurrence) and say "banged to rights"

Especially as you were caught out first time.

mattyprice4004

It beggars belief someone would make a mess on something as fundamental as insurance.

It's simple - you ring company while he's there, confirm it's insured, then he gets keys and goes out.

kingstreet

fmdddv wrote: »

I am writing to the VRES Complaints & Appeal instead of waiting for the court order. As the officer knew that our insurance was valid whilst he was still with my husband. He should not have seized the car. Seizure is to stop the offence carrying on not to fine by another route. I will at the same time dispute the whole thing and see what they say.

The seizure and prosecution are two different issues.

The summons for the driving without insurance can take upto six months to arrive, so it may be worth taking up the seizure issue now to see if you can get that overturned.

It may help with the defence of the no insurance prosecution, if you can. It may well come down to your husband seeking out the prosecutor on the day of his case and showing him/her;-

- a letter from the insurer showing he was covered from a time prior to the police stop

- confirmation of the refund of the seizure fee

to see if the prosecutor will drop the charge.

I stick with my original suggestion to seek help on pepipoo...