Caught driving without insurance

brazilianwax

claire23 wrote: »

He had the car to fix it as he has some mechanical knowledge.

claire23 wrote: »

He has been charged with other offences too, and yes he has a past for car theft.

claire23 wrote: »

i have just found out he has been bailed to appear again in october and has been charged with driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance. I have also been told that i might have to appear in court, not sure why yet.

Why on earth would you give this person your car?!

Conor_3

claire23 wrote: »

Hi

need to know if someone was caught driving someone elses car without their own insurance, is that an automatic charge of theft of a motor vehicle?
Bit puzzled about this, will give background if needed.

Claire

Basically it goes like this...

If someone is caught driving the car with no insurance, both the driver and the owner get charged and get 6 points - the driver for driving it without insurance and the owner for letting it be driven without insurance.

So...the coppers usually ask the owner if the driver had permission and if they say yes, point out about them also getting points at which point the owner then says they didn't have permission to save their own skin. At that point, the driver is then "taking and driving without the owners consent" or TWOC - basically car theft - and this is what they get charged with.

bestpud

astonsmummy wrote: »

If you tell the feds you didnt give him permission to drive the car then they would obviously look on that as stealing as he's driving it withoutn the owners permission, not hard to understand.

Why you lied about it is beyond me, so now you mate will end up with a car theft charge after he tried to do you a favour. nice.

Doing her a favour? What, by taking her car out without any insurance? What sort of favour would it have been if he'd damaged it? I don't think the OP did give him permission to drive it so why should she say she did - does honour amongst thieves stretch to getting yourself in strife to make things easier for a total plank who knew he shouldn't have been in the road at all???

astonsmummy

bestpud wrote: »

Doing her a favour? What, by taking her car out without any insurance? What sort of favour would it have been if he'd damaged it? I don't think the OP did give him permission to drive it so why should she say she did - does honour amongst thieves stretch to getting yourself in strife to make things easier for a total plank who knew he shouldn't have been in the road at all???

Fair enough i get your point, but if she knew he was disqualified then why let him drive it then say she didnt let him?
If she gave him permission which by what she's said i though she did, then why lie about the fact?

John_W_4

He'd have to be a named driver on your policy/car or if he'd got his own insurance he'd have 3rd party insurance of his own comprehensive cover to drive your car. I'm not sure if anyone cares if he was charged with theft, there's already too many on our roads that think they can get away with it. What IF he killed someone while driving when uninsured. You must have given him the keys. Sorry but stuff like this makes me boil

claire23

Hi, to clarify, yes he had the keys, because he was fixing the car for my ex husband. I did not say he could drive the car. I know he shouldnt have been driving. Im asking about the theft charge because im getting blamed for him having this charge against him (and subsequently mutual friends are falling out with me)

Does anyone know if (in scotland anyway) there is such a thing as an automatic theft charge if u knowingly drive someone elses car without insurance??

Claire

Wig

John_W wrote: »

What IF he killed someone while driving when uninsured. You must have given him the keys. Sorry but stuff like this makes me boil

What makes me boil (not really I just find it curious) why do people bring up things like this about uninsured drivers. They are not all going to drive wrecklessly just because they have no insurance, infact to do so would be stupid because it would attract the attention of the police so they would get caught quicker.

Uninsured drivers IMO are likely to be more careful than insured drivers.

I'm not entirely sure why you said "what if he killed someone..." either you think all uninsured drivers drive wrecklessly which they obviously do not. Or you feel in some way the innocent person killed or injured would be treated differently than they had been if killed or injured by an insured driver. which is also not the case.

So comments like yours just make me wonder.

Wig

claire23 wrote: »

Hi, to clarify, yes he had the keys, because he was fixing the car for my ex husband. I did not say he could drive the car. I know he shouldnt have been driving. Im asking about the theft charge because im getting blamed for him having this charge against him (and subsequently mutual friends are falling out with me)

Does anyone know if (in scotland anyway) there is such a thing as an automatic theft charge if u knowingly drive someone elses car without insurance??

Claire

I shouldn't think Scotlands laws on this are any different to the England & Wales laws. None of us can understand what the copper was on about. You cannot automatically charge someone with theft just for driving someone elses car with no insurance. (but the best place to get clarity on this would be to phone up the local nick).

Anyway, you said he wasn't charged with theft earlier. And you also said you would be going to court but did not know why....it is probably as a witness. to say what happened.

If what you said is true, that you did not authorise him to drive the car, then you will not be charged, but he may be charged with TWOC. There is no reason why you should lie to the police to help him get off a TWOC charge. Those "family friends" who are badgering you are really no friends at all, just tell them you did not give him permission to drive the car and that is what you will tell the police. If you were to lie (to help him) you could end up with a charge yourself and 6 penalty points on your licence.

scbk

claire23 wrote: »

Hi, to clarify, yes he had the keys, because he was fixing the car for my ex husband. I did not say he could drive the car. I know he shouldnt have been driving. Im asking about the theft charge because im getting blamed for him having this charge against him (and subsequently mutual friends are falling out with me)

Does anyone know if (in scotland anyway) there is such a thing as an automatic theft charge if u knowingly drive someone elses car without insurance??

Ok I'm not a lawyer or the polis but....

You gave him permission to work on the car (on private land?) but you did not give him permission to drive it. So when he drove it, he was in effect taking without consent (TWOC). Tell the police you wanted him to work on the car but not drive it, but you don't wish to press any charges over the TWOC'ing.

The "theft" that he's apparently getting charged with may be of another vehicle....


Oh and for your friends/relitives remind them that he didn't have permission to drive the car, had no insurance but most importantly was DISQUALIFIED, he shouldn't have been anywhere near a road! Tell them that you don't want any charges pressed over the TWOC'ing but it's up to the police what they do

claire23

hi scbk,

The problem is they want me to change my statement to say that i thot he had a licence and did not know he was disqualified. I'm not sure i can even do this. Can i simply say i do not want to press charges over the theft issue as u suggest?

Claire