..would you get the points/fine?
A hypothetical question of course.

Yup, drivers responsibility

Yep.

On a simaulr note a friend got points and / or a fine once for an over-loaded vehicle he didn’t load. Turned up to work “take this to Bristol” he was told, and got stopped. They didn’t even pay his fine.

Yep in my wife’s work one of the engineers got done for driving a vehicle they’d forgotten to MOT. No way he could known but he was the one driving a non-compliant vehicle on the road.

So that’s where I’m at, mot is over due. It’s now booked in for Monday and won’t be used until then.
However going back to the insurance thing, even if you have you’re own policy and insured to drive anything third party then are you still technically considered to be uninsured?

The vehicle will also be seized and youll be left in a safe place if on a motorway, large fine and reclaim fee to pay before you get it back.

askmid and dvla to check if insured and taxed moted

Yes, because the vehicle still has to be insured in its own right for such 3rd party cover to be valid.

even if you have you’re own policy and insured to drive anything third party then are you still technically considered to be uninsured?

Depends if your personal insurance policy covers you for commercial use. Unlikely.

Yes, because the vehicle still has to be insured in its own right for such 3rd party cover to be valid.

That I didn’t know.

Yep one of our lot had this and got ****.

6points. 3 for insurance 3 for mot.

He only drove from one gate to the other . About 100ft and he got busted. So unlucky.

Awe crap, sounds like you are in a bit of bother ..

A friend got done for driving a works van with no insurance and two bald tyres.

Just to clarify the van is fully insured and taxed. Its just the mot that’s lapsed, but it got me thinking about if it had been insurance.

But without an mot the insurance is invalid…

No insurance is an absolute offence. However if it’s a lease or belongs to a big company and is a pool car you do have a statutory defence. It would have to go to court though.

cite

But without an mot the insurance is invalid…

AIUI, the road traffic act says the insurance company cannot to refuse to indemnify somebody under an insurance policy due to the condition of the vehicle.

So you can’t be done for driving without insurance.

There might well be a clause in the contract saying you’re liable for anything they have to pay out if your car is unroadworthy.

If I recall correctly, driving it directly to the MOT place is allowed after expiry, so you’ll be covered on Monday morning.

m0rk – Member

Yup, drivers responsibility

Wrong.
There is a statutory defence that you were under the impression that the vehicle was insured by your employer.
I’ll have a dig for any case law once sober.

s143(3) defence

Good link timba.
It would appear then that some of the above mentioned were hard done by or rolled over too easily!

As an aside any traffic cops in? Does the no mot thing not ping on the ANPR cameras in the cars? It clearly can’t do round our way as I drive regularly by police headquarters as it’s opposite McDonald’s 😀

If you genuinely believed that there was insurance in place, you have a defence. It is not a strict liability crime.

There is a specific defence if:

that he neither knew nor had reason to believe that there was not in force in relation to the vehicle such a policy of insurance or security as is mentioned in subsection (1) above.

MOT’s – I drove round a lot last year for 4 months without an MOT.
Didnt get any letters or roadside stops at all, and I definitely went through roadside (manned) cameras at least twice.
It’s only a small fine anyway (£60 now?), no points on the licence, unless there is a fault with the vehicle.
As my Tax is automatically renewed each year, I’d completely forgot about it.

my friend wrote off his van and had no mot, they paid out and stopped £30 because it didnt have an mot

In the case of the guy at my work.

For some reason he took the old Hilux yard truck to the other yard because too lazy to walk

Pretty well known it had no mot /tax or insurance so no defence there for him. Company were not best pleased either- we had similar for the electric forklifts doing the same prior to that.

He was unlucky to be caught by the 5-0 though

MOT seems to be a vanilla offence. I very much doubt anything at all will happen to you based on several recent examples of lapsed MOT’s in my life and in friends.

But without an mot the insurance is invalid…

Nope, this is a fallacy.

All an mot is, is a certification that the vehicle is roadworthy at the time it is tested.

Your insurer may take the absence of an mot badly, such as for example if you declared it had one and it didn’t, but it doesn’t automatically invalidate your policy.

Your insurer may take the absence of an mot badly, such as for example if you declared it had one and it didn’t, but it doesn’t automatically invalidate your policy.

It is almost certainly a contractual term that you have a valid MOT.

With no MOT, your vehicle is still insured for the purposes of the RTA and the insurer would have to payout any legitimate claim, but as you are in breach of your contract the insurer could then pursue you for their losses.