Uninsured Cars to be Crushed

Legislation originally framed by the Labour government is being carried forward, enabling uninsured cars to be seized and crushed. This is not a big change, as previously cars had to be taxed and insured or the owner had to declare them as being kept off the road by filling in a SORN (Statutory Off-Road Notice).
The only change is that there will more likely be consequences for not filling in a SORN. The AA's spin on it is that innocent motorists' cars could be crushed, and they're calling for a publicity campaign. It shouldn't be news to the AA that a lot of innocent motorists' cars are crushed by uninsured drivers crashing into them, adding a substantial sum to average insurance premiums.

On balance this legislation is a good thing for cyclists, as uninsured drivers don't limit themselves to insurance offences. They're likely to be dangerous drivers, so the fewer of them on the road the better, and crushing their cars may be a more effective way of doing that than taking away their licenses.

Road safety Minister Mike Penning has pledged a substantial campaign to make sure that drivers were aware of the change in the law.A shame he can't pledge a substantial campaign to make drivers aware of the existing motoring laws, which a substantial number of drivers seem to be happy to ignore, but that's another blog post...