Hotline aims to aid clampdown (From Oxford Mail)

Hotline aims to aid clampdown

4:41pm Monday 16th July 2007

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About 16 cars a day are taken off the road because the drivers do not have insurance.

Police are clamping down because they fear motorists who drive without insurance are more likely to crash.

Innocent lives are ruined by the selfishness of drivers who think they are above the law’

Since April, police have seized about 1,600 cars in Thames Valley suspected to not have insurance - more than 500 a month.

Half the cars seized were crushed or scrapped while some owners were forced to pay more than £100 to get their cars back.

Insp Les Stone, roads policing inspector, said: "Evidence from a range of sources shows uninsured and unlicensed drivers are more likely to have a collision and less likely to have other valid documentation for their vehicle such as MOT or a Vehicle Excise Licence.

"For the law-abiding road user, these drivers push up their insurance premiums by on average £30 a year."

Officers carry out road patrols almost every day through Oxford and the surrounding area with built-in automatic number plate recognition equipment.

The computer can spot any driver without insurance, MOT or licence.

But officers have now been given a new phoneline which allows them to check immediately whether the driver is insured.

Insp Stone added: "We are committed to taking uninsured and unlicensed drivers off the roads and this helpline helps us to confirm, quickly and easily, whether a driver is insured to drive that car.

"If they are not, the car will be seized. It's as simple as that."

The dedicated helpline is run by the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB), which helps victims of uninsured drivers, and gives officers immediate information on whether the driver is legal.

Seven years ago schoolboy Ross Doyle was knocked down and killed by an uninsured driver as he crossed a road in Blackbird Leys. The driver has never been found.

Ashton West, MIB chief executive, said: "Time and time again we see the consequences of uninsured driving. Innocent lives are ruined by the selfishness of drivers who think they are above the law."

If a car is seized the owner has the choice of signing away ownership to police who will arrange disposal, or paying £105 and £12 a day storage to get their car back.

A driver caught without insurance can also be hit with a fixed penalty notice of £200 and six points.

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