National policing initiative encourages over 150,000 uninsured motorists to get insurance

Photo: Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB)

Driving without insurance can result in a £300 fixed penalty notice, six licence points and the driver’s vehicle can be seized and crushed

A national policing initiative which sees police forces issue advisory letters to drivers that appear to have no motor insurance has encouraged over 150,000 motorists to get insured.

By sending out advisory letters, police forces want to give a chance to those who may have not realised their vehicle was uninsured to correct this before heading out on the road.

Driving without insurance can result in a £300 fixed penalty notice, six licence points and the driver’s vehicle can be seized and crushed. In addition, uninsured drivers can face court where they could receive an unlimited fine and a driving ban.

The initiative – Operation Tutelage – is led by the NPCC’s National Roads Policing Operations, Intelligence and Investigation (NRPOII), supported by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), was introduced in January 2020 to help reduce uninsured driving levels across the UK.

By using MIB’s Motor Insurance Database (MID) – a central record of all active motor insurance policies in the UK – police forces can quickly identify any vehicle that appears not to have insurance and send the registered keeper an advisory letter.

Results have been highly successful with 151,464 drivers correcting their insurance status to date following over 215,000 advisory letters issued, which equates to around three in four people.

There are a range of reasons why someone’s vehicle might show as uninsured on the database. Causes stem from the unintentional – such as drivers not realising their policy has expired or admin errors – all the way through to those willing to break the law by intentionally driving without insurance.

Roads policing officers are then more likely to stop motorists who intentionally drive without insurance, who are linked to a higher rate of collisions and additional road traffic offences.

Derek Roberts, National Programme Lead at NRPOII, said: “Operation Tutelage has proven to be extremely effective in supporting our continuous efforts to tackle uninsured driving and improve the safety of our roads.

“I’d like to thank the significant majority who’ve taken appropriate action after receiving a letter and have taken the right steps to drive insured.

“This allows frontline policing to focus its resources on addressing the minority of drivers who intentionally drive uninsured and has helped to take some really dangerous offenders off the roads.

“If anyone wants to check that their vehicle is appearing as insured on systems we use, they can do so for free at www.askMID.com.”