Fully insured cars getting towed away

[Mark]

I've made a thread about this before but it's worth saying again.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/6236934.stm

The police have the power to tow away any car which they believe to be uninsured, which is fine because uninsured drivers are a menace. But the police are using a database which is only updated every 14 days and is quite inaccurate at that. Therefore peoples cars are getting towed away when they have done absolutely nothing illegal.

Keeping the insurance document in the car won't necessarily save you, if you are outside of the hours of operation of the call centre, then the police won't believe it's actually a valid document and they'll tow the car anyway.

To get it back you have to pay £105, even if you've proved you've done absolutely nothing wrong.

[oily oaf]

All the more reason to have an insurance disc similar to the current road fund licence disc.
Problem solved I would suggest.

[Dave B]

I've got misgivings about this database after trying to tax a SORN car and being told it was fully taxed already.

I fully support a crackdown on uninsured drivers, but I'm not sure this is the right approach.

[Drew]

Another success story for North Wales Police :rolleyes:

[Rollo]

All the more reason to have an insurance disc similar to the current road fund licence disc.
Problem solved I would suggest.

Hear hear :up:
In fact, the system already exists in Australia. When you register a motor vehicle in the state of NSW you need three bits of paper:

1. Pink Slip - which is the certificate of roadworthyness. This is a check of the obvious things like brakes, lights, tyres and an emissions test. Cars under 2 years old are exempt from this as it's assumed that a new car should already meet the requirments.
2. Green Slip - This is compulsory third party insurance for injury to pedestrians, occupants of other vehicles and other people.
3. Blue Slip - Registration sticker. Basically this is the proof that the taxes have been paid.

Since third party insurance is compulsory in NSW (and I suspect the entire of Australia) then we never have to worry about if someone is insured or not. If you are insured for third party property or first party property, then the insurance companies will fight this out ex-parte.

In fact, the Roads Authority won't even issue the tax sticker until you have have the three bits of paper. A car without insurance is in fact unable to be registered in the first place; to drive an unregistered vehicle is a criminal offence (and one that carries a mandatory gaol sentence).

Good idea Mr Oaf, and simple to implement.

[Daniel]

Hear hear :up:
In fact, the system already exists in Australia. When you register a motor vehicle in the state of NSW you need three bits of paper:

1. Pink Slip - which is the certificate of roadworthyness. This is a check of the obvious things like brakes, lights, tyres and an emissions test. Cars under 2 years old are exempt from this as it's assumed that a new car should already meet the requirments.
2. Green Slip - This is compulsory third party insurance for injury to pedestrians, occupants of other vehicles and other people.
3. Blue Slip - Registration sticker. Basically this is the proof that the taxes have been paid.

Since third party insurance is compulsory in NSW (and I suspect the entire of Australia) then we never have to worry about if someone is insured or not. If you are insured for third party property or first party property, then the insurance companies will fight this out ex-parte.

In fact, the Roads Authority won't even issue the tax sticker until you have have the three bits of paper. A car without insurance is in fact unable to be registered in the first place; to drive an unregistered vehicle is a criminal offence (and one that carries a mandatory gaol sentence).

Good idea Mr Oaf, and simple to implement.
Strange that WA doesn't do anything similar.

Cars don't need to pass tests, don't need to show insurance for a tax sticker (registration we would call it). It's a silly system really......

[BDunnell]

All the more reason to have an insurance disc similar to the current road fund licence disc.
Problem solved I would suggest.

An excellent idea.

Now, I wonder which contractor is responsible for maintaining a faulty database this time...

[Dave B]

Why, Capita, of course. :\

[BDunnell]

Goodness, I need picking up off the floor after that shock.

[Mark]

At the moment you can't get a tax disc unless you can prove you are insured. But you only have to be insured for the first day that the tax disc is valid for. Perhaps if they made it law that you had to prove you were insured for the entire duration of the tax discs validity, there would be less problems?

[oily oaf]

An excellent idea.

Now, I wonder which contractor is responsible for maintaining a faulty database this time...

Sadly it would be somewhat remiss of me to take the credit for this proposal as I actually heard it put forward some time back on my speaking radio device.
However I gratefully accept the generous plaudits that have been rained down on my undeserving head by your good self and Rollo with due deference and with a proud but slightly abashed heart.

Now then who would like to hear about my audacious, cutting edge plan to replace the Road Fund Licence with an increase on fuel duty?