More than two-thirds of drivers in the UK agree with a new car insurance law, AA Insurance told participants of the ABI Motor Conference in London on November 24. The law has made keeping a vehicle without insurance a criminal offence, even if it is being kept on private land.

Paul Watters, head of public affairs at AA, made this claim at the conference during a session on tackling uninsured driving, citing an AA/Populus survey. The study showed that 69% of the 13,905 respondents agreed with the ‘Continuous Insurance’ proposals, with 43% agreeing strongly.

“The new offence means that there will be no hiding place for uninsured drivers,” Mr Watters declared. “Every vehicle must be either insured or subject to a SORN (statutory off-road notification), whether or not the vehicle is kept on the public highway. With police ANPR (automatic number-plate recognition) equipment drawing on both the DVLA database and Motor Insurance Database, officers will be able to check whether any UK-registered vehicle is legal.

“Police already do have and do use powers to confiscate uninsured vehicles on the public highway. Under new legislation they will also have the power to issue penalties for offending vehicles that are on private land,” Mr Watters said. “This is just one more step in the vital fight against uninsured drivers.”

The research showed that drivers aged 18-24 were the least reluctant to accept the new legislation, with just 25% supporting it. Women of all ages were the biggest supporters, with 75% in favour compared with 64% of men.

Mr Watters concluded: “While this strength of public opinion is welcome, the police need to be pragmatic in their use of the technology. Safeguards must be in place to ensure that where offences are committed inadvertently, for example through illness delaying renewal of insurance or where a simple registration number mistake has been made on an insurance certificate, drivers are dealt with sympathetically.

“If it becomes clear that the new legislation is a blunt instrument, this public support could quickly evaporate.”

Currently, one in every 20 drivers is believed to be driving without insurance, costing the average policyholder an extra £30 on their annual insurance premium.