Teaching Son To Drive On Industrial Estate

Question:

I drove my 16 year old son to an industrial estate at 4.30pm on a Sunday afternoon and I let him practice a 3 point turn and reverse corner in my car with me sitting beside him. The police turned up and questioned us then impounded my car and have given my son a driving with no insurance form and told me him that he will go to court.

At no point did they ask who I was or take any of my details even though I explained to them that he had not driven on the road and was only practicing maneuvers. I told them I had insurance to cover me in the vehicle but again they were not interested. I need to know if I have any defence with this?

I don’t see that it is in the public interest for them to convict a young boy who attends a private school and is an exemplary student and has never been in trouble with police. I am hard working honest woman who was just trying to help her son learn driving techniques early.

Paula Says:

I’m afraid that an industrial estate road is still a public road for the purposes of the road traffic acts and therefore he needs to be insured to drive your car even under your supervision. So despite their bad attitude and failure to use their discretion they are right I’m afraid.

Your son will get a summons which carries 6-8 points and I wouldn’t be surprised if you get a summons for permitting him to drive without insurance which carries 6-8 points as well.

The thing you had to think about is what if he had had an accident or run over someone? He wouldn’t have been insured and that person would have struggled to get any compensation for their injuries etc. that’s the basic principle involved. If you told him it was okay to drive the car we maybe able to argue special reasons to help him avoid the points.