Stopped by the Police For Driving Without Car insurance any advice (UK Only)?

the police stopped me today because i did not have car insurance but i insisted i did have insurance so they called the insurance company and the police was told the insurance expired on the 15/02/2009 now the thing is i am a new driver which means they will take my driving license!!!!!!! :'(

it is my own fault in the end but im really angry on my insurance company (Tesco) as i received a Notice letter on 16/01/09 from them saying:

''your motor insurance will be renewed 15/02/09, THIS IS AN AUTOMATIC RENEWAL - NO NEED TO DO ANYTHING''

and they did write it with capital letters anyway

should i go to court? no idea what to do they even took the care to the car pound my life is ruined :( help please your advice would be great
Additional Details
i pay the insurance company by direct debit...

john10001

I don't know all the details of your insurance whether you pay monthly or annually and whether it definitely was supposed to renew automatically or not and if so whether the details they have on file for your payment method have expired e.g. new bank card with new expiry date/issue number etc?

You would need to check into all this and if you do have a document that says your insurance was going to automatically renew you would have to find out why it didn't.

Usually after 12 months you would have different terms for your insurance e.g. you may have an extra year n.c.b. to add on and may get a lower rate. You'd need to check into all this. There may have been something you needed to do in order for your insurance to renew.

Think people would need more info like this to offer any advice. My best advice would be to take a look at all the info from Tesco regarding your motor insurance and read carefully what it says. Also speak to a Solicitor specialising in road traffic laws and motoring offenses. You may also want to visit TPUC.

Great Britain is a Common Law jurisdiction and its my belief that essentially you haven't done anything unlawful provided that you have not infringed on the life, liberty, property, or rights of anyone else.

You should be wary of anything written in capital letters. You should also be wary of the word "register" and "registration". When you register your car what you're essentially doing is agreeing to transfer the ownership of your car to the government who will allow you to use it on the roads in exchange for the document they give you from the DVLA. You then have to play by their "rules" (not laws) and make sure that you pay insurance, insurance premium tax, RFL car tax, fuel tax tax (double tax) have a valid license etc etc.

Tim R

Ouch. I'm not an expert on this in any way, but I think you could probably sue Tesco Insurance for this if that is indeed what the letter said.

sanddancer

Go to court if you are paying by DD and there is no mention of you having to confirm your renewal and it stated as you said THIS IS AN AUTOMATIC RENEWAL - NO NEED TO DO ANYTHING''

Did you call Tesco and ask why????????

esmerelda v

I strongly advise you to see a solicitor.

xxlauraxxox

go to court and bring the letter as well u may not get put off the road u jus may get 2 points on it

Sorry i live in ireland ere you pay a heavy fine wen you caught

but jus double check in future

best of luck

mike

Find the letter from Tesco and get a bank statement to prove the direct debit has been coming out of your account.

Arthur B

If you can prove that you have paid your premiums and can present a valid certificate of insurance you have committed no offence.
Get in touch with Tesco insurance pronto.

pmt853

I'm not an expert on this, but if this happened to me I'd send a copy of the renewal notice to the police and explain that you thought you were covered. I.d also copy the letter and renewal notice to Tesco and ask for their comments.

daveclinton44

emigrate

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