[sonny52]

Hi , my Licence was taken from me back in january when i got stopped for driving without insurance. Well the problem was the insueres didnt notify me they cancelled my policy so i had no idea. I got stopped and told that i could either take the £200 fixed penalty and the 6 points there or go court. I decided to have a cour hearing. The next day i went to the police station handed in my documents and my licence to the police station. 3 months later i get a letter w ith my licence back saying

RE: Fixed penalty notice *******

I am returning here with the driving licence ******** surrenderd in respect of the above mentioned fixed panty offence, unendorced.

Whats this? do i still have to go court? or am I off the hook?

[Rolebama]

No, you are not off the hook. The fact that you opted for a Court hearing means you cannot yet have points on license. It will now be down to the Court to decide what penalty, if any, they deem fit if you are found guilty. Unfortunately, driving with no insurance is one of those offences which is deemed an absolute. This means that either you did or did not have insurance, there is no middle of the road approach. You do however benefit from the opportunity to give your mitigation if there was no insurance in force at the time you were driving the car. This could lessen the penalty if you are found guilty. The negative side is that you will be asked as to why your insurer cancelled the cover, and why you were not aware of it.

[Watcher]

Eh?

"I am returning here with the driving licence ******** surrenderd in respect of the above mentioned fixed panty offence, unendorced."

Don't like the sound of that!:eek:

[98selitb]

Concur with everything Rolebama said. Penalty for driving without insurance: "6–8 penalty points plus a fine, although in certain circumstances, an instant ban will be imposed. The fine, which is means tested, can be up to £5,000."

You do have mitigation though if your company didn't tell you they'd cancelled it, obviously you had no idea and (I hope) would never have got behind the wheel if you'd known you were uninsured. Sadly these cases have been known to occur, as you can see from other similar posts. It is absolutely unacceptable that an insurance company can cancel a client's policy without telling them, leaving them to be severely punished through no fault of their own. If that happened to me I would sue the insurance company for in essence deliberately turning me into a serious motoring criminal for no reason and without telling me.

I hope the court is understanding and it goes OK for you.

[smudger]

I believe as the law stands now, if you are caught without road tax the police can impound your car on the spot. (Not sure if that applies to not having insurance)
I saw that on that TV Road Wars programs.

One question though....why did the insurance company cancel your policy?

Cheers, Smudger.

[sonny52]

Well what happend was I told the insurance company in the beggining of the policy that i study in norfolk but come down to london to look after my mum who is disabled. So if they would please send the letters to the address in London instead. They said its ok and sent me my documents to the London address. I told them that i visit my mother shes disabled and am not in the other address most the time. I was in london for 2 months as my mothers condition was quite bad and i took time off college. I was informed that they sent letters to the other address and not the 1 i told them.

I did not intentianly drive without insurance, my mother is disabled and if i loose my licence i cannot look after her. She has a car on mobility which i use to get her around and do shopping for her. If i loose it then it will be very hard for my mother thats the most important thing for me.

[Rolebama]

The part that is missing from your explanation so far, is why did the insurer cancel the Policy? The Court would be far more interested in this, and it would probably be the most influential aspect of your defence.
**This question is purely rhetorical, and for your consideration in terms of mitigation.**

[Watcher]

No insurance

They have six months to "lay an information" with the court so as long as they do that within six months they can summons you at any time. As you have been told, no insurance is an "absolute" offence (you either had, or did not have cover).

You have NOT answered the question about WHY your cover was cancelled. you really MUST get your insurer to confirm when and why and what was sent - you will get nowhere with complicated stories about how you didn't receive notification.

I suggest you do some homework, then go to pepipoo.com for better advice.

Oh, and BTW, how long have you had your licence? If you have held it for less than 2 years, the six points you will get for no insurance will see your licence revoked by DVLA (not a ban - your licence is removed from you) and you will have to take your test again.