Motor vehicle insurance

Causing or permitting uninsured driving

It is a criminal offence (and also a tort), under s143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, for a person to cause or permit another to use a motor vehicle on a road or in a public place unless there is valid liability insurance in force covering that other’s use. If the owner of a vehicle does have insurance, but it does not extend to use by another, and that other is involved in an accident while driving the car, then under s151 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 the insurers must, nevertheless, indemnify the third party victim but are given a statutory right under s151(8) to recover their payment either from the driver himself (almost inevitably a largely pointless exercise) or from the assured as long as the assured ‘caused or permitted’ the uninsured use. In Lloyd-Wolper v Moore [2004] EWCA Civ 766, [2004] Lloyd’s Rep IR (forthcoming) the Court of Appeal considered the circumstances in which the assured could be liable under s151(8) to indemnify the insurers.