Car impounded

[pwetherby]

I let a friend drive my car to practice parking (in a carpark)who only had a provisional license and was not insured on my car. I was in the car as well, teaching her to park. The Police took my car away to a pound and summoned my friend to court for not driving in accordance with her license and driving without insurance. Will this by on my record?

[therubster]

hi, im not to sure of all of the facts and i stand corrected if i am wrong but i am pretty sure that you do not need a licence, insurance or mot if you are driving a vehicle on a car park and there is only 1 entry or exit on the car park then this is classed as private land and not a public highway, therefore, you can drive whatever you like on it without any documents etc.

if the carpark has more than one entry or exit then it is classed as a public highway and therefore you need to have a licence, insurance etc.

i cant understand why the police have impounded your car as you obvisouly have insurance to drive and an insured person would be driving the car home.

im not to sure if this will have any adverse effect on your record.

i hope this has helped.

[bednobs]

how/why did the police stop yu? Was she driving on the road with no insurance, or was she just in the carpark?

[kempie]

A correction is needed. If the public have access to the car park (if they don't have access how do they park there?), even if it is privately owned land, then insurance is required.

The law (section 143 Road Trafffic Act 1988) states:

(a) a person must not use a motor vehicle on a road or other public place unless there is in force in relation to the use of the vehicle by that person such a policy of insurance or such a security in respect of third party risks as complies with the requirements of this Part of this Act,

and

(b) a person must not cause or permit any other person to use a motor vehicle on a road or other public place unless there is in force in relation to the use of the vehicle by that other person such a policy of insurance or such a security in respect of third party risks as complies with the requirements of this Part of this Act.

I am surprised that you have not also been charged for the insurance offence as per part (b) above.

[therubster]

i stand corrected.

[redcrx]

if you are not to be charged with anything they why have the police impounded your vehicle?

[Buenchico]

To answer your question re: "Will this be on my record?":

Like Kempie, I'm surprised that you've not been charged with permitting an uninsured person to drive your vehicle. The offence is treated exactly the same way as driving without insurance. It's quite possible that you'll be summonsed at a later date. If so, you can expect 6 points on your licence. (A court can impose 6 to 8 points but it would seem most likely that the court would choose to use the bottom point of the scale). You'd also be fined. (When a 'no insurance' offence is dealt with by a fixed penalty the fine, in addition to 6 points, is �200. A court can impose a much higher fine but some actually impose lower fines, depending upon the financial circumstances of the person convicted).

A conviction before a court creates (or adds to) a criminal record, so yes (if you were charged and convicted), it would be 'on your record'.

However, if the police and CPS decided to take no action against you (which seems unlikely to me), there would be no reason for police, the CRB or your insurance company to keep any record of the matter as far as you're concerned.

Chris

[kempie]

"if you are not to be charged with anything then why have the police impounded your vehicle?"

...because they can.

The police power to seize vehicles on suspicion of (exact phrase "reasonable grounds for believing") insurance or licence offences is separate to the section of the legislation used for the prosecution of those offences.

[pwetherby]

thank you all for your responses. I had no idea at the time that a person without insurance was not allowed to 'practice' driving in a car park. Obviously I was mistaken. This was over 6 months ago now and I was told that if I did not recieve a court summons within that time then they could no longer summon me.

[Gadgetmanx]

Well... there is no limit to the length of time it can take for a summons to go through. The only limit is that if it is an offence for which a Notice of Intended Prosecution has to be served then this has to be done within 14 days of the offence.