Driving Bans

[Mobius1]

Why is it whenever I watch programmes on TV like Coppers or Police Enforcers, that when Police apprehend people for driving whilst disqualified, all they ever seem to get is an extension to their disqualification?

I mean, these people break the law (we assume multiple times in some cases) to actually get banned in the first place. They then break the law again by disobeying a court ruling saying they're not permitted to drive. They break the law further because they're also then not licensed or insured, and then as penance they're told "they can't drive for longer".

But if they're that ignorant, irresponsible, selfish and disinclined to obey the law in the first place, why aren't they getting massive fines and prison sentences or community service? Why is tax payer money being wasted just telling these people to not do it again?

[derekpara]

But don't the police confiscate the car and have it crushed if ther's no insurance ?

[MarkRae]

That's an option that they can offer the driver...

[andy-hughes]

They do - but if you are driving a £100 shed, that's an acceptable risk.

My daughter who is 21 and a nursery nurse on minimum wage, pays nearly £90 a month to ensure her beat-up Fiat - third party - it's immoral.

[McMouse]

No insurance..........leave the driver in the car and then crush it. Sorted.

[New Judge]

The maximum is 6 months and/or a fine of £5,000, Eddie. Page122 of this document explains:

http://www.sentencing...pdate_1__2__3_web.pdf

[Mobius1]

It just seems to me to be a case of the law, and the accepted established system as it exists, once again making the honest man's life harder whilst charging him and not protecting him.

I own and maintain a car, I pay high insurance and the resulting premium tax, I pay road tax, I pay massive tax on the fuel I put into it. If I get hit by one of these people, there's potentially a massive effect on me, but assuming nobody is hurt, very little effect on the uninsured, unlicensed driver.

If crime is a way of life for a person who's been put in prison for a short while on his 6th disqualification offence something is wrong. Repeat offending of this sort is an obvious problem and the system doesn't deal with it. It instead hands out "realistic" punishment. So if you can afford a fine, you're charged one, if you can't then you're not. That's not justice, it's a farce.

[Andyvon]

There is a percentage of the population that don't give a damn how many times they are caught for offences such as this. They generally have a record as long as your arm and more convictions simply don't matter. It's pointless fining them as they have no money and short jail terms are happily served with their mates and a shrug of the shoulders. Not only are the jail terms short, but they know many people inside and serving the sentence cancels any fines.

I lived in Grimsby for three years and I met many people like that. Many would buy cars from scrapyaerds for £50 and drive them with no insurance, MoT or tax until the car stopped. Then they would just leave the car and go and buy another! I knew many people who never had a TV licence. Each time they were caught they wouldn't pay the fine, then they would receive a one month jail sentence and serve two weeks. That would cancel any fines owed and they would go home and watch TV until they were caught again! If the timing was right they could even serve their sentence and not even have it interfer with their signing-on days!

For people who have something to lose a fine, conviction or jail sentence is a disaster. However, not paying fines and serving short jail terms is a way of life for many and they are the ones who never bother to make sure their cars are legal. What's the point? You can't punish people like that. Another non-paid fine, conviction or two weeks inside is nothing to them.

[flip_flop]

Driving with no insurance is as anti-social and as serious as driving whilst under the influence, and until sentences acknowledge this, it makes financial sense for those that that are prepared to run the risk not to buy insurance.

In their little minds, what's the point in paying, say, £400 for insurance when a fine is just £200.

The consequences of driving uninsured need to be severe - an automatic crushing of their vehicle, a fine of thousands and a lengthy ban.

Uninsured drivers add £30 to everybody's motor insurance premium.

Basically, anybody who drives uninsured is a scumbag.

andy-hughes, statistics prove youngsters are a greater risk than the more mature driver and therefore they have to contribute more to the common pool. The motor insurance industry, as a whole, hasn't made a profit in more than 10 years - in the past they could rely on the investment they earned form the premiums collected, but this is difficult at the moment, and in fact the last actuarial report I read suggested premiums need to increase by approximately 30% to cover increasing awards, ambulance chasing costs and so on and so forth.

Insurance Companies are there to make a profit - they are not charities.

[flip_flop]

....so £90 per month is far from immoral, in fact it should be somewhat more!