IN10 Driving without Insurance - worth challenging?

[profwimbley]

On 23rd December, I was stopped at a petrol station by traffic police as they said I had no insurance. The premiums were being paid but, unbeknown to me, the insurance had been cancelled due to non-receipt of no claims bonus. Having checked my correspondence, I had nothing aside from a survey asking how they had done. I had all documents, i.e. schedule of insurance, certificate etc.. I was given an IN10 and they took away the car which I got back the next day from the pound. Some time later, I received a letter dated the 24th December stating that the insurance had been cancelled.

As a Domestic Violence worker, I have always ensured that all of my paperwork is in order as my car is vital to my job and also for taking my son to school. I don't have any other convictions etc.. Whilst I accept that technically, I did not have live insurance, it is impossible that I could have known that.

Is the IN10 worth challenging as I cannot afford a higher fine if it does go to court but I am reluctant to accept 6 points on my licence when I was unaware of the cancellation?

The insurance company was LV and when I went to the police station to prove my insurance, even the officer at the desk said she had had a similar problem with her own car and LV. I feel really upset at this but cannot afford a solicitor to help advise and like I say, cannot afford to challenge it in court if they are just going to give me a higher fine

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

There are three main options available to you at the moment.

The first would be to try and have the case discontinued at this stage. The only way for this to be done would be to obtain written confirmation from your insurers that they would have indemnified you on the date that you were pulled over. If they have sent no correspondence to you indicating that the policy would be cancelled then you could reasonably request that they provide indemnity, especially if the policy has since been reinstated. However the risk is that any such information would not be provided in the time frame which you have to accept the fixed penalty. If it then transpires that they are not willing to assist then your case would be running to a Court hearing without any way in which to successfully plead not guilty. However if the information came through when the case has been referred to Court but was still supportive, I would expect the prosecution to discontinue proceedings.

The second option is to take the matter to Court and enter a special reasons plea. Driving without insurance is a strict liability offence, as such whether or not you knowingly drove without insurance in place is not relevant to the conviction. However in cases where you were unaware of this fact, and could not reasonably have been expected to know that you had not insurance in place you can present a special reasons plea. Whilst this is still a guilty plea, if successful it enables the Court to avoid the imposition of penalty points, and in some cases they will simply order an unconditional discharge. However this again runs the risk of this being rejected and an increased fine being imposed.

The only other alternative is to accept the offer of a fixed penalty and keep the penalty points and fine down to the level currently offered.

 

[profwimbley]

Thanks for your help Sean - I will try my luck with special reasons at court....

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

Best of luck with the hearing, I hope everything goes well.