Cars to be crushed in insurance crackdown

Published on Tuesday 20 January 2009 21:19

TWO million uninsured drivers face having their vehicles seized and crushed under a proposed new government crackdown announced yesterday.

It will be made illegal to own an uninsured car. This would close a loophole because it is currently only illegal to drive without insurance.

The move is aimed at the estimated 6.5 per cent of drivers who do not insure their vehicles.

They would receive warning letters followed by 100 fines for non-compliance. If a vehicle remained uninsured, it could be seized and destroyed.

The government said the problem added some 30 a year to every driver's motor insurance premiums. It said uninsured drivers who could not be traced were responsible for crashes that killed 160 people and injured 23,000 a year.

Jim Fitzpatrick, the UK road safety minister, said: "The selfish minority of drivers who refuse to insure their cars push up premiums for other motorists and kill or injure thousands of people each year.

"Increased police powers already mean more than 400 uninsured vehicles are seized every day, but these tough new measures will leave uninsured drivers with nowhere to hide."

Consultation over the plans runs until April.