To use a vehicle on the road or public place, its use must be covered by a valid policy of third party motor insurance as set out Section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The consultation is about the regulations required for commencement and operation of the scheme of continuous enforcement of motor insurance authorised by Section 22 of, and Schedule 5 to the Road Safety Act 2006. Its provisions introduce a new offence of being a registered keeper of a vehicle which does not meet statutory insurance requirements.

13. If as a result of this process of comparison a vehicle appears to be uninsured, and for which there is no formal off road (SORN) declaration, the registered keeper will be sent a letter and given reasonable opportunity to respond. The letter will explain for example, that if the keeper is already insured s/he will need to check that their insurer/broker has correctly entered details on the MID, or if s/he is no longer the registered keeper of the vehicle s/he will need to inform the DVLA in order for DVLA to update its records. The letter will also allow opportunity for the registered keeper to explain that they are exempt for other reasons (see the exceptions below in paragraphs 16 to 20). However, the letter will further warn of the consequences if the keeper is uninsured and takes no action to obtain appropriate insurance.

Exceptions

16. Section 144B of the Act lists the exceptions to the Section 144A offence. It also provides that regulations may prescribe for the documents that need to be furnished or the declarations to be made in specific circumstances as described in paragraphs 17 to 20 below.

Change of keeper

17. Section 144B(7)(a) of the Act authorises regulations for the purposes of prescribing documents to be furnished, or declarations to be made, by a previous keeper if s/he is to be excepted under Section 144B(4) of the Act. Effectively this deals with anyone claiming that s/he was not committing the offence because s/he was not the keeper at the relevant time.

The Department intends to make regulations requiring anyone claiming the exception to have complied with the existing requirements for notification of change of keeper as specified in the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2742) as amended ("the Registration and Licensing Regulations"). This means that the individual will not have to pay the penalty if s/he properly informed the DVLA that s/he was no longer the keeper of the vehicle

Exceptions for vehicles not used on a road or other public place

18. Section 144B(7)(a) of the Act authorises regulations for the purposes of prescribing documents to be furnished, or declarations to be made, by a keeper who is keeping the vehicle off road if s/he is to be excepted under Section 144B(5) from the Section 144A offence. Effectively, this Section deals with anyone claiming that s/he was not committing an offence because the vehicle was not being used or kept on a road or other public place at the relevant time.

The Department intends to make Regulations requiring anyone claiming this exception to have complied with the existing requirements for statutory off road notification (SORN) as specified in the Registration and Licensing Regulations.

The Department recognises that there are vehicles which do not currently fall within the requirements for SORN because they have not been used on the road and were last taxed before 31 January 1998, for example historic vehicles. We intend making provision for such vehicles to be excepted. They are not of course exempt from Section 143 of the Act which requires valid insurance to be in force if the vehicle is used on the road or other public place.

Exceptions for stolen vehicles

19. Section 144B(7)(b) of the Act authorises Regulations for the purposes of prescribing how notification of theft should be made by the registered keeper if s/he is to be excepted under Section 144B(6) from the Section 144A offence. Effectively this section deals with anyone claiming an exception from the offence because the vehicle has been stolen and not recovered. Currently stolen vehicles are recorded as such on the vehicle register on the request of the police when a vehicle has been reported to them as stolen.

It is our intention to place a requirement in the Regulations that anybody who is claiming an exception because the vehicle was stolen must have reported the theft to the police.

Further exceptions

20. Section 144B(8) of the Act makes provision for amending Section 144B to provide for further exceptions to Section 144A. The Department recognises that in certain circumstances some keepers may feel that they should be exempt from the new provisions. However the basis for the scheme is that the registered keeper of a motor vehicle should have and take responsibility as a minimum for ensuring that her/his vehicle(s) are covered by a policy of motor insurance, or that the vehicle is kept off road and a formal declaration has been made by the keeper to the DVLA.

As such the Department has no plans to provide for any further exceptions. An integral part of the scheme would be to publicise and raise awareness before the scheme came come fully into force to allow motorists a period of time to adjust to the new arrangements.

Q Are the exceptions we have proposed appropriate?