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Special reasons no insurance
bwaarp
post Mon, 4 May 2020 - 13:59
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Ok, so I'm a self employed sole trader with a mercedes sprinter which I use for my business, when the lock down happened my insurance was about to expire, and seeing as the vehicle would be kept off road, I declined my insurers renewal quote, which was exactly double the previous years policy. I had received a quote from autonet, which was similar to my premium, so I decided to wait for the duration of the lockdown before reinsuring. My ex wife and I co parent our 8 year old son, she had a serious operation for cancer at the end of Jan which has resulted in her suffering both physical and mental debilitation, leaving her unable to look after our son and subsequently I have become his primary carer. Due to the lockdown he's not seen his mum for 4 weeks and so we agreed that I should bring him to see his mum. As simple case of reinserting my van and driving there or so I thought.

When I tried to book the offered policy, I was told that there was an unsettled liability case on my record. Some time last year I was sat on my motorbike at some traffic lights when someone drove up the inside of me and stopped on my foot. I spoke to my insurers about making a claim, they asked if either vehicle was damaged which there wasn't, and told me that as there was no vehicle damage they wouldn't deal with the claim, so I employed a no win no fee solicitor to pursue damages. (35 percent of the settlement) Shortly after, I received an email from my insurer saying they'd been informed of a claim against me, and that the other party was holding me liable (I must have put my foot under his tyre) I explained to my insurer that I'd already contacted them and the circumstances and they were satisfied that I had no claim to answer to.

My solicitor informed me that the other party had accepted 100% liability and we scheduled a list of costs for personal injury and loss of earnings. The other side offered me £2700 for personal injury but nothing for my documented loss of earnings, so we made a counter offer which they have 21 days to reply to.

I've contacted my insurer and they say that the matter is closed and no funds allocated to it, meaning as far as they're concerned, I am not liable, and my solicitor has confirmed that I have no liability against me. It seems that the motor insurers database hasn't updated this and autonet told me the policy they'd offered wasn't available, and the best they could offer was £1800 rather than the £515 they'd proposed.

With all of this investigation as to the unsettled liability case on my file, we were now at late Friday afternoon and my host where I'm staying in isolation offered the use of his van (we are in the same industry and I work for him regularly. He was aware of the insurance issues and why I couldn't renew the policy.

I drove to London to drop my son with his mum, and it did them both the world of good, theyve not seen each other for a month and has been good for both of their wellbeing's.

After picking my son up and driving home I came off the north circular and noticed a police car behind me, they obviously anpr'ed the vehicle and pulled me over. They informed me that there was no policy on the vehicle, I immediately phoned the vehicle owner and he was surprised to hear this and assured me that he would investigate, but it was Sunday so obvs would have to wait until business hours.

The police cautioned me and told me I was being reported for driving without insurance, they took my license details and took a photo of me with their laptop.

I understand I'm looking at 6-8 points and a £300 fixed penalty, I already have 6 points on my license for mobile phone use (I wasn't using my phone, I'd just been cut up by another driver and my phone had fallen and the charging cable wrapped around the dash mounted gear-lever and my leg. I had considered this a hazard and so picked it up. I explained to the officer what had happened and that I had not been using my device, but when the offer of the points and a fixed penalty arrived I was disuaded from going to court by the potential of escalated costs and penalties as it was a commercial vehicle) as a side note, I saw that recent clarification on mobile devices means that this would be a legitimate reason for appeal but assuming it's far too late now as I didn't contest it at the time and I'll just have to accept the points.

Anyway, with the 6 existing points and the potential 6 additional point for this, under totting up I'll have 12 points and will lose my license for 6 months.

Obviously a vehicle is essential for my business and also for being able to be the primary carer of my son. Without a license my business cannot function.

I understand I can make a case for special reasons for driving uninsured, that I was told by the vehicle owner I was insured and had no reason to doubt him, he was unaware thst the policy had expired, I had driven the vehicle in good faith I was insured, surely if I had intended to drive uninsured, I would have just driven my own vehicle. I understsnf that special reasons are not a denial but a mitigation which is to be considered at sentencing, I'm assuming that I will receive a fixed penalty offer of 6 points which will result in a loss of my license or an opportunity to appear before a magistrates court, where I should plead guilty to the offence but state special reasons (I believed I was insured as I had been specifically told, and the error was not mine) And hope for leniency but probably accept points and a fine. And hope that because of the potential for extreme hardship (no business, loss of family home etc as reasons to not face a ban.

I work in events, and haven't earned a single penny since the beginning of March, with events closed for the foreseeable future I've opened a universal credit claim and I'm awaiting the governments self employment help which is schedule to be rolled out at the end of may.

I believe extreme hardship is supposed to take into consideration the current climate with regards to employment potential when considering whether financial hardship is potentially present through a removal of licence.

I've driven for 20 years without ever accruing a single point on my licence up until the phone incident, and this uninsured incident falls within the 3 years for totting up.

Obviously with no income, and no future work on the horizon I can't afford a solicitor, so I guess what I'm really asking is should I get my day in court, brief the duty solicitor and give him all my notes (sworn statement from vehicle owner, and everything I've explained here) and throw myself at the mercy of the court? Or is this foolish?

I honestly didn't intend to drive uninsured, but accept that inadvertently I did. But I can't afford to lose my licence.
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post Mon, 4 May 2020 - 13:59
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666
post Sat, 13 Jun 2020 - 05:48
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QUOTE (Savas456 @ Sat, 13 Jun 2020 - 01:05) *
Not giving advice, but commenting on this. If there is a government website that shows whether a vehicle is taxed, mot'ed, why not insured, so one can check without possibly offending a friend who may take it the wrong way and assume you don't trust him/her when you ask to see insurance cert. This would also rule out any such situations like this for all parties.

You can check online at askmid.com.

However, that only shows whether a vehicle is insured. It does not show who is insured to drive it, nor any other conditions. It would probably be impracticable to do so.
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rosturra
post Sat, 13 Jun 2020 - 07:12
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QUOTE (666 @ Sat, 13 Jun 2020 - 06:48) *
You can check online at askmid.com.

However, that only shows whether a vehicle is insured. It does not show who is insured to drive it, nor any other conditions. It would probably be impracticable to do so.


Can only use this service if checking your own car or you seek info. following an accident.


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The Rookie
post Sat, 13 Jun 2020 - 07:49
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It wouldn’t tell you if they had drive other vehicle cover, so pretty useless in the context the OP is asking under I’d suggest.


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cp8759
post Mon, 15 Jun 2020 - 13:45
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QUOTE (rosturra @ Sat, 13 Jun 2020 - 08:12) *
QUOTE (666 @ Sat, 13 Jun 2020 - 06:48) *
You can check online at askmid.com.

However, that only shows whether a vehicle is insured. It does not show who is insured to drive it, nor any other conditions. It would probably be impracticable to do so.


Can only use this service if checking your own car or you seek info. following an accident.

Not quite, you can also check any vehicle you are permitted to drive.


--------------------
If you would like assistance with a penalty charge notice, please post a thread on https://www.ftla.uk/index.php
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