Uninsured drivers risk having cars crushed

Ministers will this week unveil plans for a new offence of keeping a car uninsured, which will allow police to match insurance industry databases against DVLA records and identify cars which do not appear to be covered. The move follows last month’s article in Insurance Age that the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba) has been lobbying the government to establish the long-awaited Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) process, which would see official vehicle registers and the motor insurance database (MID) join forces to catch uninsured drivers - click here .

Jim Fitzpatrick, the road safety minister, will meet insurance industry representatives this week to discuss how the plans could be implemented. A Department for Transport official said that if the number of uninsured drivers was cut by a third it would save insurers £764m over five years which could then be used to keep premiums down.

Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, said she hoped that the proposals would reduce the misery and expense to other motorists. "A small hard core of drivers who