Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi all, after some advice on this please.

Got caught driving without insurance last month and it’s 6pts and a £300 fine or a trip to court.
I’m totally guilty but I feel the punishment is very harsh. I was pulled just before 10am and the insurance had run out at midnight, I didnt realise it hadn’t auto renewed. My father had very recently died and I wasn’t really on the ball with everything that was going on around me.
The insurance was sorted out there and then before I drove any further and they apologised for not auto renewing.
I’m also concerned that being motor trade, this could affect my position.
Is there anything I can do? What are the chances of any leniency being shown?

Regards

Jim

Is there anything I can do?

No.

If you take the matter to court, the law says that a minimum of six points must be imposed unless the court finds there are “Special Reasons not to Endorse or Disqualify”. Cover running out the previous night would not qualify as a Special Reason.

You could give it  ago, but it will almost certainly fail, and the cost to you will be very much greater than £300 (although the court is unlikely to impose more than six points).

A very good point made by Bert which I had overlooked.

What gave you the impression that the policy would auto-renew? It’s very common for most insurers to auto-renew these days. Did you have a reminder that it was due to expire, and telling you that either it would auto-renew of that it wouldn’t’?

If you were told it would auto-renew and it didn’t, that would paint a different picture. Especially considering the very short period between expiry and when you were stopped.