It is an offence to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place without valid insurance in place to drive that particular vehicle.

You can also be convicted of this offence even if you were not driving in circumstances where you permitted or caused another to use your vehicle whilst that person was uninsured.

It does not matter for this type of offence whether you were in fact aware or not that you were not insured to drive it.

Defences

1. There is a defence if you are an employee and you were driving your employer’s vehicle. It is for you to prove that you were using the vehicle in the course of employment and that you did not know nor had any reason to believe that there was no policy of insurance in force covering your use of that vehicle.
2. That you were insured.
3. That you were not driving.
4. That the vehicle was not a motor vehicle.
5. That you were not driving on a road or other public place.
6. You did not cause or permit another to drive without insurance.

Penalty

If convicted of driving without insurance, you may receive a fine and between 6-8 penalty points. In the more serious cases, the court does have the discretion to disqualify.