Get your car insured - or you'll lose it
Uninsured drivers cost honest motorists in the UK £500million last year.
And it was the Linford Wood-based Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) which processed all the claims by innocent victims made against hit-and-run or uninsured drivers.
Neil Drane, head of database operations at MIB, said: "In 2006 it was estimated one in 20 cars on the roads in the UK were uninsured.
"In some parts of the country this figure is as high as one in six.
"There was a slight reduction in the number of uninsured claims last year, a downward trend that we wish to see continue.
"Uninsured driving is irresponsible in the extreme and those who drive without insurance are a menace on the roads."
Drivers who do not have insurance are 10 times more likely to have been convicted for drink driving and six times more likely to have been convicted of driving without due care and attention.
The MIB also works closely with police in a bid to take uninsured drivers off the road.
Every force in the country now has access to the database which has all the details of the 34 million insured cars in the UK.
By calling the team of operators at Linford Wood, police officers are able to find out whether or not a particular car is insured.
If it turns out the car is not insured, officers have the power to seize the car as well as hand out three points on their licence plus a fine.
During the next two years, the MIB will be working with the Government on a project called 'continuous insurance enforcement' so that insurance data can be checked against addresses.
By doing this, the MIB and the DVLA will be able to close the loophole of people who have car tax, but no insurance.
So if a car is registered to a particular address without insurance, the MIB will be able to target the owner and have the vehicle seized.
If you want to check whether a particular vehicle is insured visit www.askmid.com and key in its registration number.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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