Free Traffic Legal Advice

Unusual topic. We are charitable group in EY helping Ukraine -one of the activities is purchasing pickup trucks for military and driving them to Ukraine. As our drivers often foreign without UK licence  and vehicle exported from the UK soon after purchase EU cover insurance is a must have (as asked on the border). We use valid EU broker to get insured with representation in the UK as partner company -never had a problem till last week. Our this time foreign driver but with UK licence was taking a vehicle to the ferry crossing and was stopped by police implying insurance certificate is not valid cos not issued in GB and not on driver name. Any explanations has not satisfied the officer so they issued 300£ fine and 6 points on driving licence -admitted though he doesn't understand the insurance certificate presented (cos not in English) and need clarification how it works. They also stayed till we get temp cover sorted (which is not valid in EU by the way). There is no any information for appeal or contact details or reference provided except name of Police dep. What are steps to prove the vehicle was insured please and do we need to appeal going through court? We obtained English version of certificate from the broker now. Thank you.         

There is no appeal available as nobody has been convicted of anything.

The police cannot  impose fines or points. What they can do is to make an offer to deal with the matter without court action if the driver accepts it. That's what they've done.

The driver is free to decline that offer in which case he will be prosecuted in court.

As MickR says, you need to obtain a copy of the certificate in English which will hopefully clarify that cover was in place. If it doesn't you will need to get that clarification from the insurers to present to the police.

If you can do that in time they may cancel the FP offer. If not the driver may have to defend the matter in court.

Are you certain that cover does extend to the UK?

Is it not the case that a UK registered vehicle is insured by a company authorised to do so in the UK i.e. a UK insurer and, therefore, the certificate/policy is in English?


Are these UK registered vehicles? Brokers are not insurers so who is the Insurance company?

Assuming it was insured to be driven by any driver with the permission of the policy holder in the UK of course. OP says they have an English version of the policy now, but hasn't confirmed this is the case.

If the certificate isn't accepted as valid cover for driving in the UK by a UK licence holder, it would be best to get the driver to post here directly. They are in receipt of the COFP and the invitation to accept 6 points, a financial penalty and crap insurance quotes for the next 5 years, not the charity, and as such they will be the one having to deal with it. If it goes on that the policy didn't cover travel in the UK, there may be an argument for SRNTE for the driver if they can prove they were sufficiently misled to believe they were insured to drive the vehicle but this will need to be argued in court.

They now have a copy of the insurance cert in English. Where does it say that the insurance is in place for driving in this country? The driver is a UK licence holder, their nationality is irrelevant. It would however suggest they are UK resident and presumably have access to the internet somehow.

You can translate anything into English, it doesn't make it legal in the UK. The OP simply rocking up with a certificate that states EU countries only, or mainland Europe only, will not help the driver. That is why the OP needs to confirm the driver was covered for driving that vehicle in this country to get meaningful advice.

The basic question is where the vehicles are registered. Also, are they taxed and MoT'd and declared as permanently exported to DVLA?

A foreign broker may introduce an insurer but if the vehicles are UK registered they can only have insurance cover with a UK insurance company and documents will be in English. This could include cover in other countries if specified in the certificate. Who can drive with cover provided by the policy should be shown on the insurance certificate.







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