UK driving without insurance - error?

It is not the police that you have to convince, they've done their job, it's the magistrate. You have to go to court, or submit a plea that the court will consider in your absence.

The reason for this is that driving without insurance is what is known as a "strict liability" offence (these include speeding, driving without a licence, driving without lights etc).

It means that once the offence is committed there is no "guilty/not guilty" plea involved. You either did it or you didn't, and if you did not do it then you would not be prosecuted in the first place.

In your case there is no doubt that you "did it" (driving without insurance). The reasons for committing the offence are what must be argued in court.

If you have a good and valid reason (mitigation) for committing the offence then the court will take it into account at the trial. If the magistrate considers that your mitigation is good enough then he will reduce your fine to £zero or even award a sentence of "Absolute Discharge".

In practice this means that although you are guilty of the "strict liability offence" you will not be punished for it. BUT you must make this mitigation plea to the court, either in person or by means of a written submission presented on your behalf.

You will need to show that you honestly and genuinely believed that your insurance was in place and valid (eg you had paid the premium in good time) and that the insurance company were responsible for the mistake.

If you have letters to show this (especially if the insurance company is paying the car pound release fee) then your mitigation will almost certainly be accepted and the magistrate will just warn you to "be more careful checking insurance status in future". If that happens then you won't be fined or given points, or penalised when renewing your insurance.

The mitigation must be presented in court. Telling the police is not the correct procedure because the (strict liability) offence has been committed, you were caught, and that is where their responsibility ends. Mitigation in defence is the buisness of the court not the Fuzz.

It is not essential to appear in person, your court summons will explain how to submit a written defence. But it would be better if you went in person, appologised for the incident and then presented your evidence and case; the magistrate will take that as a token of your sincerity, they like that.

You had insurance if I understand you but it had not got to the database. Get the company to contact the Police and tell them it was your insurance companies error and you were insured.

They may drop the charges. If not get a letter from the company stating this and produce it in court. The Magistrates will not be happy if the Police still brought the charges having been notified of the companies error.

Intersting - what is the insurers reason for refunding?