Uninsured drivers face fines

The government has unveiled new plans to crack down on uninsured drivers.

The proposals from the Department of Transport, tabled as amendments to the Road Safety Bill, will make it an offence to own a car that is neither insured nor registered as off the road.

Announcing the changes, road safety minister Stephen Ladyman said police would use a database of all registered vehicles in the UK to identify and prosecute uninsured motorists, comparing the database with insurance company records. Drivers without insurance will face fines and will ultimately have cars crushed.

"The vast majority of motorists are rightly fed-up with the small hard core of anti social motorists who drive without insurance," Mr Ladyman said. "These new measures will mean that there is no hiding place for uninsured drivers."

"We estimate that every law-abiding motorist pays £30 a year because of uninsured drivers. This new measure will be coupled with new police powers to electronically spot and ultimately to seize and destroy cars without insurance. We are determined to rid the roads of the menace of uninsured driving," he added.

The government wants to reduce the number of uninsured drivers. Police were given new powers from July 2005 to seize and destroy uninsured vehicles and officers will start using automatic numberplate recognition technology from November 2005 to identify and prosecute drivers without insurance.

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