44 vehicles seized across Northern Ireland in insurance clampdown

A total of 44 uninsured vehicles were seized by police officers across Northern Ireland between 21st and 27th November, as part of a UK-wide insurance clampdown.

Vehicles seized ranged from family hatchbacks to commercial vehicles, luxury cars, sports cars and two motorbikes.

The PSNI said that of the 44 vehicles seized, 14 have already been insured and released.

Each driver detected will have received both a £200 on the spot fine and six penalty points on their driving licence.

The other vehicles remain in storage. Drivers will need to arrange insurance cover and pay any recovery and storage fees before their vehicle is released, the PSNI said.

Superintendent Gary Busch said: “We normally average 30 seizures for no insurance every week, so last week represents close to a 50 per cent increase.

“As expected, we detected some drivers who assumed their insurance automatically renewed. Some had wrongly assumed comprehensive insurance policy covered driving other vehicles, while others claimed they had ‘forgotten’ to renew policies. It is critically important that all drivers check they have the appropriate insurance cover in place before they take to the road.

“Some uninsured drivers were detected last week as we investigated other incidents. As a result, 10 people were arrested on suspicion of a number of offences which included fraudulent use of a registration mark, assault and possession of a blade or point in a public place.”