Motor Vehicle Insurance - Compulsory insurance: Roads

The Road Traffic Act 1988, which imposes a liability insurance requirement upon the users of motor vehicles, has for many years confined the need for insurance to the use of a vehicle on a “road”. In a joined appeal to the House of Lords, Clarke v Kato and Cutter v Eagle Star Insurance [1998] 4 All ER 417 their Lordships ruled that a road did not include a public car park. That decision apparently put the UK in breach of the EC’s Motor Insurance Directives, and has been corrected by The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 2000, SI 2000 No 726. The Regulations came into force on 3 April 2000.