Skip to main content

Driving Offences: Insurance

Volume 463: debated on Monday 3 September 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there have been of uninsured drivers by the West Midlands police force in each of the last 10 years; and what the average penalty was in each case. (152753)

The information requested is set out in the following table.

Proceedings at magistratescourts for the offence of using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks1, and average fine imposed, West Midlands police force area, 1997-2004

Total proceedings

Average fine(£)

1997

29,878

207

1998

30,928

190

1999

27,409

189

2000

28,148

201

2001

27,010

169

2002

32,339

192

20032

36,409

200

2004

39,696

206

1 An offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 143 (2). 2 As from 1 June 2003, 'driving a motor vehicle while uninsured against third party risks' became a fixed penalty offence. Notes:

1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences may be less than complete. Work is underway to ensure that the magistrates' courts case management system currently being implemented by the Ministry of Justice reports all motoring offences to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. This will enable more complete figures to be disseminated. 2: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Court Proceedings Database held by OCJR.