It always amuses and infuriates me when you hear of cases where someone is convicted of either driving while disqualified or driving without a licence and the punishment is a paltry fine and a ban from driving.

The driving without insurance punishments aren't enough either, you're right. The car should be seized and made available to unemployed who have to turn down or not apply for certain jobs because they can't afford to run a car.

When you run a small fleet of cars and vans which are doing relatively high mileage each year then you get used to handling the odd knock and dent here and there - its when you take a car thats got a few scrapes on it to a main dealer bodyshop and ask for a quote to knock a few of them out and respray other bits and the VERY first question they ask EVERY time is "Is it an insurance claim ?" THATS when you know what scamming insurance companies is all about.

The dynamics of business work differently when it comes to car repairs - the ones with the highest volume of work to pass their way get the highest quotes while Joe Public with one dent and a panel respray once every five years gets the best possible price, especially if he's willing to pay in cash.

The motor insurers are supreme conmen, it's true, but now they also have the government in their back pocket so can do absolutely what they like.

That said, uninsured motorists should be strung up.


No, they didn't. And the reason they wouldn't pay out was not the speed, but because you don't get paid for whiplash when it was your own bleedin fault

Driving without insurance is a criminal offence. S.143 Road Traffic Act.

You can be taken to court and, if convicted, fined up to £5,000. Not that anyone would ever get fined anywhere near that.

I agree there is seeming inconsistency between what an uninsured motorist pays by way of fine and what he would pay for A YEAR's insurance.

BUT.

a) you don't need to have paid for a full year's insurance to be driving legally
b) the car will be seized, if he doesn't get it insured he won't get it back
c) you get at least 6 points on your licence which means
..(i) if you do it again, you will be banned as well as other penalties
..(ii) you therefore quickly get into the realm of driving whilst disqualified, which is a fairly short route to a prison sentence.

Whilst I would agree generally that the deterrent to driving uninsured doesn't seem to be big enough to do its job properly, I don't think the escalator of punishments is perhaps as toothless as people often think it is.