KNOW YOUR RIGHTS USING A VEHICLE WITHOUT INSURANCE
We have also noticed over the last few months rising cases for prosecuting non-drivers with using a vehicle without insurance or allowing the use of their vehicle to be driven without insurance.
Everybody knows that it is an offence to drive a vehicle without insurance, but what about if you are not driving - if someone else is driving your car or perhaps you are just a passenger?
Usually these prosecutions are rare, but there has been a significant increase this year, especially with the addition of so many new cameras on the roads and an increase in detection of drivers.
But what is the law, and how do we stay legal?
1. Permitting someone to drive without insurance It is an offence to permit someone to use your vehicle without insurance. The offence carries the same penalty as if you were driving – between 6 and 8 points, and an unlimited fine.
The best way to stay the right side of the law is to insist on seeing someone’s policy before they get into your car and make it clear that the person can only drive your car specifically on the basis that they have insurance. If someone is prosecuted for this offence, the driver can then defend themselves if they can show that they made it a “pre-condition of use” - so by having this conversation at the outset it is keeping you as safe as possible.
Don’t forget, being fully comprehensive on a vehicle does not automatically mean that you are able to drive other vehicles. In order to drive other vehicles it must specifically allow it on your insurance policy. So if somebody asks to borrow your car and claims that they are insured as they are ‘fully comp on their own car’, that does not necessarily mean they’ll be covered.
2. Using a vehicle without insurance
Occasionally someone is prosecuted for ‘using’ a vehicle without insurance even if they are not the driver. These cases will usually crop up when the driver has no insurance, but the police decide also to prosecute the passenger, or even their employer.
PHTM NOVEMBER 2022
In cases like this, the most obvious question is – is the non driver ‘using’ the vehicle? And what does using mean?
In the case of Carmichael & Sons v Cottle it was held:
the only person who could ‘use’ a vehicle was either the driver or an employer if the driver was an employee driving for business purposes.
Here’s an example:
In an office, an employer sends a member of staff out in a company car to buy some milk. The member of staff is not insured. In this case, both the driver and the employer could be prosecuted for using a vehicle without insurance. But any other members of staff would be protected and couldn’t be charged.
This was developed further in the case of Cobb v Williams when it was stated that:
in order for a passenger to be using the vehicle, they must be the owner and the vehicle must be driven for him for his purposes.
Another example:
A friend gives you a lift. It’s his car. Unbeknown to you, he is not insured. He could be prosecuted for driving without insurance but as long as you are not the owner, you would be protected. But, if it is your car and he is not insured, as the passenger you could be at risk of being prosecuted for either permitting him to drive without insurance or using a vehicle without insurance.
Either way you would be at risk of penalty points.
So to summarise: in cases of using a vehicle without insurance, a person is only using the vehicle if they are either the driver, the employer or if they are a passenger as well as the owner of the vehicle and the vehicle is being driven for their purposes.
If you want regular updates on road traffic law follow us on
facebook.com/PattersonLawMotoringSolicitors or
twitter.com/Patterson_law_
81
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
