No Driving Licence And No Insurance

Question:

Driving with provisional and no insurance

My insurance was due for renewal on the 26th, I got letter on the 10th stating I had not renewed I called them up to renew, they said I had to speak with collections first as I had an old debt on a caravan policy, I set up a standing order for this and they said I could now go back to renewals to renew, however when I spoke to renewals they stated collections hadn’t put a note on the file and they had to speak to renewals before they could renew.

I stated I couldn’t hold on any longer and that everything was OK with collections and I definitely wanted to renew, they said OK they would sort it and give me a call back, I never got a call back so presumed everything was sorted as I have been with the same company for a few years and my policy renews automatically.

However I got stopped on the 28th for no insurance on our car, I phoned the insurance company the next morning and they stated because they never spoke to me after they went back to renewals (they said they called but couldn’t leave a message.) they didn’t renew it? I complained etc but they would not backdate stating they said they would call me back?

They also had 14 day from the 10th when I called them to the 26th to send me a letter which they admit they didn’t and they never tried to contact me except the once they reckon they got no answer and didn’t leave a message. I was stupid and drove just around the corner without a supervisor driver, it was a spur of the moment thing to drop something off.

Paula Says:

I’m afraid that you wont have a defence to this matter. I also don’t think you will be able to argue special reasons because the court will take the view that you would not have been insured anyway – because you were not driving in accordance with your licence. This probably would have invalidated your insurance even if your insurance had been in place.

You are going to get 6-8 penalty points or a short ban and a fine I’m afraid.