Motor insurance

Passengers in uninsured vehicles

Where a person is injured in a motor vehicle accident by the negligence of the uninsured user of a vehicle, in circumstances in which the use was one required to be covered by motor insurance under the Road Traffic Act 1988, the victim clearly cannot look to insurers to satisfy the judgment obtained against the uninsured user. Instead, under arrangements that have been in place since 1946, the victim may make a claim against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau under the Uninsured Drivers Agreement (the most recent version of which was agreed in 1999. In Pickett v Motor Insurers’ Bureau [2004] EWCA Civ 6, [2004] Lloyd’s Rep IR 513 the claim was made against the MIB under the predecessor 1988 Agreement, and the MIB sought to rely upon the much litigated exclusion in respect of a passenger voluntarily being carried by a driver known to be uninsured. The question in Pickett was whether a passenger who has changed her mind and sought to bring the journey to end can recover if she is subsequently injured.