foreign national driving in uk

[evedawn]

My husband lent his car to a foreign national. He did not know that the foreign national needed to be added to his insurance (the guy had his own insurance) . A speedign fine was incurred (40 in a 30 zone)

when my husband wrote back with the fine to say that he was not driving and who was he has now been told that becuase the foreign national was not on his insurance he (my husband) faces a fine of up to �2500.00 and 8 points on his licence. The foreign national only drove the car for around half an hour at most :-(

ALthough we know that ignorance is no excuse when it comes to the law my hub did not know that he had to put him on his insurance...

any advice as to what he can do legally to get the fine reducedd as well as the points?

[bednobs]

i dont see what the problem is if the person was driving on their own insurance in this country which covered them for driving other peoples cars, then the legalities have surely been covered? no crime has been cmitted by your hubby (as in allowing someone to drive his car without insurance)
did the person have their own insurance that covered them to drive other peoples cars?

[randyraven]

So you are saying is ...
"Someone not used to driving on the left hand side of the road, was driving without insurance and in just 30 mins managed to get done for speeding ".....

I would count your lucky stars he did not kill some inocent poor person or injure them (without them being able to claim on any form of insurance).

Glad your being punished to be honest.

I was hit by an uninsured motorist about 20 years ago and it cost me a �1000 to get my car repaired.

You broke the law, now accept the punishment.

[Drisgirl]

I sympathise with you eve and i'm sure there is a way around this.The 'foreign national' duped you effectively so he actually took your car without permission in that he lied to take it.He is responsible not your hubby.Speak with the Police again about this -you may even get one who isnt wet behind the ears.

On the subject of foreign nationals -grrrrrrrrrrrr-even in my wee bit of rural Scotland the paper is FULL everday of them D & D, speeding -causing death by Dangerous Driving -its absolutely hideous -they just say -we do it in our country and shrug their shoulders.Its horrendous.Sorry just touched a raw nerve when i saw Foreign National there !

[randyraven]

If the car was taken without your permission, did you report it to the police ?
If my car was taken I would have.
Also If someone was going to use my car , I would want to know I was insured. I would not take their word and then find they had writtem my car off (Worth �19,000) and then find out I was not insured.

[{Dakota}]

randyraven, have you not read the question?

The car was leant with permission and the guy who borrowed it had it insurd himself. No law was broken.

[factor-fiction]

I wouldn't let anyone drive my car without fully checking tehd etails of their insurance. And even if they had insurance I wouldn't let them drive it unless I was covered for Any Driver or had them added as a named driver. If in doubt, ring your insurer first.
The fact that he was a foreign national isn't relevant. Also, the fact that he only drove for around half an hour isn't relevant- it doesn't matter whether it was 10 minutes or 10 hours.

[evedawn]

thanks for your advice all of you (barring randy raven who whilst he is entitltled to his opinion didn't seem to get the gist of the actual question).
factor 30 - my husbands insurance does cover for "any driver" but what concerned him was the letter from the traffic police stating that he may be liable for this whopper of a fine / points due to it being a foreign national driving.
hopefully (drisgirl said) he'll get a copper with a bit of sense as he must now report to the local cops with a copy of his insurance within a week.

[bednobs]

its most probably because an "any driver" policy is very rare and expensive. if yur husband can prove he has an ay driver policy (which he will do by the sounds of it - is he in the motor trade?) then he will be ok. the drver will still get the points though

[bednobs]

dont really understand why, if he has an any driver policy then the person driving isnt covered on it?

[evedawn]

well this is what WE thought - but until he rcvd the letter from traffic police yesterday there had been no need to even look at the insurance. after all, there was NO accident, it was a speeding fine (40 in a 30 zone) which normally is a 60 quid fine and three points...not something you'd even bother looking at your insurance for. aiyaiyai - maybe the traffic dept has gotten confused?

[Hymie]

More evidence � if it was needed � showing just how incompetent our police are.

What chance have they got of catching real criminals?

[bednobs]

does the letter say he may face a fine if the insurance dosent cover it?

[Wop/tpo]

Ignoring this particular case, there is a lot of misunderstanding about vehicle insurance.
Briefly, a person who has a comprehensive motor insurance policy in force may drive another vehicle not
belonging to, or hired to himself. BUT, this other vehicle is only covered for third party risks, with no accidental damage cover.

[wineoh]

Just to add about foreigh nationals driving in this country.

I had a transport company and used agency staff. Last year most were Polish, Romanian etc I asked to see driving licences etc as usual and copied them for our records but don't know how real they are.

I asked the Police what I could do to authenticate licences. They advised me if I wasn't sure then don't employ them. (helpfull)
They went on to say that a foreign national working in this country can drive on their own countries licence for 1 year after that they are required to take a British driving test.

This is something I didn't know and asking around nobody else in our industry was aware neither.

[randyraven]

"Just to add about foreigh nationals driving in this country.

I had a transport company and used agency staff. Last year most were Polish, Romanian etc I asked to see driving licences etc as usual and copied them for our records but don't know how real they are.

I asked the Police what I could do to authenticate licences. They advised me if I wasn't sure then don't employ them. (helpfull)
They went on to say that a foreign national working in this country can drive on their own countries licence for 1 year after that they are required to take a British driving test.

This is something I didn't know and asking around nobody else in our industry was aware neither"




Very topical, just watched a TV prog on ITV Tonight, that covered just this topic.
It was one of those where you just ranted at the TV.
Things like drivers from overseas not paying any road tax , but using our road system.
Been like this for years.
My Brothers truck firm fill any trucks they send to Belgium with Derv. Then on return they pump it out for use on UK trucks. Next trip the truck enters Belgium running on fumes. Fills up prior to return to uk and is pumped out of diesel.

[wineoh]

Don't even get me started on the price of fuel!!!!!!!!! and road tax !!!!!!! and toll road charges !!!!!!!!!!! and emission zone and congestion zone charges !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry didn't mean to Hijack the thread and turn it into something else