Cancelled Insurance

faye1979

I am looking for a bit of advice .I went through a separation with my ex partner earlier this year .A van he was using had the insurance in my name with him as a named driver .I informed him in writing that the van insurance was cancelled and that he did not have permission to drive it under that policy anymore. A family member also did contact him in writing a few days later to inform him it was cancelled again.He had replied stating he had made his own arrangements for insurance.   Then some weeks later (about 6 weeks ) he was caught driving with no insurance, van impounded and going to court as already has 6 points .I have been informed that heis telling people and plans to tell the court that I cancelled the insurance without his knowledge. Can he just say this and it be believed ? Would I be contacted by the court to give evidence ? Can all blame just be passed to me and that be accepted ?

Nasqueron

He can claim what he likes, it is the driver's responsibility to ensure the vehicle is insured before they drive it. Even with work vehicles the employee can often get points and a fine from driving uninsured when the employer messed up. The court will not allow that as a defence and as you put it in writing, you are covered (though ideally confirm what you mean e.g. message on an app)

DullGreyGuy

faye1979 said:

I am looking for a bit of advice .I went through a separation with my ex partner earlier this year .A van he was using had the insurance in my name with him as a named driver .I informed him in writing that the van insurance was cancelled and that he did not have permission to drive it under that policy anymore. A family member also did contact him in writing a few days later to inform him it was cancelled again.He had replied stating he had made his own arrangements for insurance.   Then some weeks later (about 6 weeks ) he was caught driving with no insurance, van impounded and going to court as already has 6 points .I have been informed that heis telling people and plans to tell the court that I cancelled the insurance without his knowledge. Can he just say this and it be believed ? Would I be contacted by the court to give evidence ? Can all blame just be passed to me and that be accepted ?

So you did actually cancel it? The last bit about "didnt have permission to drive it any more under the policy" is an odd statement if there is no longer any policy. Or did you just remove him from the policy?

Driving without insurance is a strict liability offence, you are effectively guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. Other than showing you did have insurance or that you weren't actually driving at the time the only other defence I know is that where it's an employee driving an employers vehicle which is S143 of the RTA.

Im not aware that you can argue you arent guilty by virtue of a family member controlling the policy and not telling you. 

How did you inform him of the cancellation? Latter? Email? Txt? Phonecall?

CliveOfIndia

As above, it is always the driver's responsibility to make sure they have at least 3rd-party cover in place.  As far as the law is concerned, that's the end of the matter.  Doesn't matter whether you've hired a car, borrowed it from a mate, driving a company car, test-driving a car, whatever - it's your responsibility to make sure you're insured.

faye1979 said:

I informed him in writing that the van insurance was cancelled ... A family member also did contact him in writing a few days later to inform him it was cancelled again.

Well, that's great for you - makes it even more clear-cut.  Not that it needs to be any clearer, from a purely legal standpoint.

faye1979 said:

He had replied stating he had made his own arrangements for insurance.

So he's really shot himself in the foot there.

faye1979 said:

heis telling people and plans to tell the court that I cancelled the insurance without his knowledge. Can he just say this and it be believed ? Would I be contacted by the court to give evidence ? Can all blame just be passed to me and that be accepted ?

No, in a nutshell.  I'm no expert on court matters, but I find it unlikely that you would be called to give evidence.  And there certainly cannot be any blame attached to you.  It doesn't matter what the circumstance were - it's the driver's responsibility to make sure they're insured, end of story.

faye1979

DullGreyGuy said:

faye1979 said:

I am looking for a bit of advice .I went through a separation with my ex partner earlier this year .A van he was using had the insurance in my name with him as a named driver .I informed him in writing that the van insurance was cancelled and that he did not have permission to drive it under that policy anymore. A family member also did contact him in writing a few days later to inform him it was cancelled again.He had replied stating he had made his own arrangements for insurance.   Then some weeks later (about 6 weeks ) he was caught driving with no insurance, van impounded and going to court as already has 6 points .I have been informed that heis telling people and plans to tell the court that I cancelled the insurance without his knowledge. Can he just say this and it be believed ? Would I be contacted by the court to give evidence ? Can all blame just be passed to me and that be accepted ?

So you did actually cancel it? The last bit about "didnt have permission to drive it any more under the policy" is an odd statement if there is no longer any policy. Or did you just remove him from the policy?

Driving without insurance is a strict liability offence, you are effectively guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. Other than showing you did have insurance or that you weren't actually driving at the time the only other defence I know is that where it's an employee driving an employers vehicle which is S143 of the RTA.

Im not aware that you can argue you arent guilty by virtue of a family member controlling the policy and not telling you. 

How did you inform him of the cancellation? Latter? Email? Txt? Phonecall?

Hello yes I did inform him it was cancelled and therefore he no longer had my permission to drive the van under that policy .

I informed him by text message and my family member messaged him via messenger 

DullGreyGuy

So irrespective of any of the above he has no defence and should really do the sensible thing and just accept the conviction. 

If he tries to pull you in under S143(b) RTA of causing or permitting him to allow to drive without insurance (which would be in addition to his own conviction) then you simply show the coppers the text message where you told him the policy was cancelled prior to the incident. 

faye1979

He has claimed that he has been advised by a magistrate who is his friend that he can claim special circumstances to driving with no insurance and say he was not aware the insurance was cancelled after the break up.

LightFlare

Just to clarify OP - can you confirm you actually did cancel it as you haven’t specifically stated that you did, merely that you’d told him you had

faye1979

Hello yes I told him insurance was cancelled and a family member told him also 

flaneurs_lobster

LightFlare said:

Just to clarify OP - can you confirm you actually did cancel it as you haven’t specifically stated that you did, merely that you’d told him you had

If the insurance had not been cancelled then the ex wouldn't have been busted - no?

faye1979

faye1979 said:

Hello yes I told him insurance was cancelled and a family member told him also 

And the insurance was actually cancelled and then he was caught driving the van a number of weeks later as it was not insured