Confused.

Convicted Driver Insurance

BigLifeMistake

New Member
Hello, I made my life's biggest mistake by "drink&drive" back in 2016 and was cought by police.. the court gave my 24months ban, but I never gave my drivers licence to the Judge. My ban was over in 2018 late octocber. I have an EU drivers license, so I went back home a few weeks ago, and tried to change my drivers license because I've only held the "2years starter license" and I've tried to change them to a "10year" valid one. To my suprise I had no problems getting my 10 year one's. They did not see the offense that I made in Northern Ireland back in 2016. Right now I am holding a valid drivers license issued from my EU country and the valid date is after my ban was over in Northern Ireland. So could somebody answer my question.

I learned my lesson from drink&drive and I want to get back driving a car again. My question is, do I have to re-do a test or something that I could get back on the road, or do I not need to because I have a valid drivers license after my ban was over? I was banned for 24months, but on the courts report it doe's not say anything after re-doing a test after those 24months. I've also haven't reveived anything from DVLA that my ban is over and I need to re-do my test. I am living at the same address for the last 5+years, but I never got a letter from DVLA, on the other hand I didn't gave my license to the Judge. Doe's anyone knows a answer to my confusing question? Maybe there's a website where you can check can you drive on UK's roads or something? Or I should visit DVLA?

I appreciate it for everybody's time who is reading this.
I'll be looking forward for some answers if anyone will help my.

Thanks!
 
DVLA. An it endorse your foreign licence so yes, it will not show up and yes, you can continue to drive here with that licence.
If you were to swap your foreign licence for a U.K. one then it would show up on your DVvLA record because they create a ‘dummy’ licence record for you when you were convicted which says “if this person should ask for a U.K. licence, this disqualification needs to be on it.”
There is, however, no requirement (at the moment) for you to HAVE to swap your licence for a U.K. one. After Brexit, I don’t know what the rules will be. At the moment, foreign licence holders (other than from EU countries) have 12 months after they take up residence in the U.K. before they have to change to a uK licence.
 
Thanks for your answer! So I could buy a car, insure it, tax it, and drive it, with no problem? If I'll be pulled over by the police I'll have no problems?
 
You'd have to declare your conviction to your UK insurer if you plan to drive it here permanently. You would definitely have problems if you were pulled and didn't declare the conviction because as price has said the DVLA will have a ghost licence for you which the police can access. If you don't have insurance they seize your car, £300 fine, 6pts on your ghost licence.
 
So let's say I have insurance but I haven't declared my convinction on it. Would I have problems with the police? Let's say, a police car is behind my, what information do they see by the cars reg. number, who's the owner, is it insured, is it MOT'd and taxed? Or do they also see that I don't have declared my conviction on my insurance or do they have to pull over my to do a deeper search to see that?
 
It will not flag on ANPR - probably, although the checks are more detailed then just tax, insurance, MoT.

However, if you are stopped by the police for any reason they will check your licence. That will come back with a DD and correspondingly a check on your insurance will show you as uninsured.

More of an issue then any police penalty is the fact if you have an accident, even if not at fault, the insurance company will check your licence. When they find you have a DD conviction they will very likely say they would have refused to insure you had they known.

That will mean they will seek to recover all their costs from you. If you don't have the money now they tend to chase you over a number of years.

My last insurance claim - not at fault - is currently estimated to be between £200,000 and £1m. The driver was insured through Admiral and drunk so they are chasing him for the money, he will lose his house. IMO you would have to be mad to personally put yourself on the line for those sorts of costs. Your choice though of course
 
However, if you are stopped by the police for any reason they will check your licence. That will come back with a DD and correspondingly a check on your insurance will show you as uninsured.

Would you not technically actually be insured (ie the third party part of your insurance be not invalidated) and hence not charged with having no insurance (despite being based on inaccurate disclosure)? Certainly you may not remain insured for long once the insurance company finds out, and if you were involved in an accident they may, indeed, attempt a costly recovery.
 
No.

The Insurance Act allows an insurer to retrospectively void a policy if the policy holder knowingly or recklessly gives false information which, had the insurer known, would have caused them to not offer the policy at all.

They are still obliged under the Road Traffic Act to meet any third party costs but the policy doesn't meet the requirements of the Road Traffic Act and therefore, to the police, you are uninsured.

Insurance is an absolute offence - it doesn't matter what you have in place at the time, it's what your insurer says you had when it gets to court. It can work both ways - if a policy holder makes a genuine error which leaves them uninsured an insurance company can retrospectively cover them as a gesture of goodwill. You may still have your car seized but you will be found not guilty in court.
 
It will not flag on ANPR - probably, although the checks are more detailed then just tax, insurance, MoT.

However, if you are stopped by the police for any reason they will check your licence. That will come back with a DD and correspondingly a check on your insurance will show you as uninsured.

More of an issue then any police penalty is the fact if you have an accident, even if not at fault, the insurance company will check your licence. When they find you have a DD conviction they will very likely say they would have refused to insure you had they known.

That will mean they will seek to recover all their costs from you. If you don't have the money now they tend to chase you over a number of years.

My last insurance claim - not at fault - is currently estimated to be between £200,000 and £1m. The driver was insured through Admiral and drunk so they are chasing him for the money, he will lose his house. IMO you would have to be mad to personally put yourself on the line for those sorts of costs. Your choice though of course
Thanks for very detailed answer, this was a big help! Maybe you know good insurence providers for a good qoute for convicted drivers?
 
@price1367 is better than me than that. My advice is to go for a bloke on the end of the phone who smokes forty a day and has a thick black book of numbers
 
!!!
One more question, for how long do I will have to declare that I've been a convicted driver? 5 years?
Exemple: my offencense was done on late october, 2016. So if I would like to insure my car december, 2021, would I need to tell the insurense company about the DD?
 
I would assume the same as here, it is accessible for eleven years so multiple offences can be punished by the courts.

You only need to declare it for five years no matter what the DVLA do.
 
No.

The Insurance Act allows an insurer to retrospectively void a policy if the policy holder knowingly or recklessly gives false information which, had the insurer known, would have caused them to not offer the policy at all.

They are still obliged under the Road Traffic Act to meet any third party costs but the policy doesn't meet the requirements of the Road Traffic Act and therefore, to the police, you are uninsured.

Insurance is an absolute offence - it doesn't matter what you have in place at the time, it's what your insurer says you had when it gets to court. It can work both ways - if a policy holder makes a genuine error which leaves them uninsured an insurance company can retrospectively cover them as a gesture of goodwill. You may still have your car seized but you will be found not guilty in court.

Presumably that is similar to the scenario where you get caught delivering items without business use on your insurance, or commuting without this being on your insurance.
 
Presumably that is similar to the scenario where you get caught delivering items without business use on your insurance, or commuting without this being on your insurance.
Sort of, although there you have a valid policy but it doesn't cover you for the activity you are doing. Insurers only need offer a policy that complies with the minimum legal requirement and can add restrictions beyond that.

With the situation above you do have cover for the activity you are doing but the insurer would seek to cancel the entire policy on the grounds they wouldn't have offered you a policy at all, even at a higher price, if they had known the full facts.

Ultimate issue is the same though.
 
You could try doing what most east european's do with insurance, go to France once per year and insure it there...
 
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