Police seize one millionth uninsured car

Police have seized the one millionth uninsured car. The crackdown began in 2005 when police were given new powers to stop uninsured vehicles.

This has led to around 500 vehicle seizures a day, with an estimated 30 per cent of confiscated cars being crushed.

At the same time the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) has revealed the top 20 worst postcodes for uninsured drivers, with the West Midlands making up 60 per cent of these and a quarter coming in the West Yorkshire region. Estimates suggest that there are still around 1.2 million uninsured drivers across the UK

The AA praised the work of the police and MIB, but warned that there’s still more needed to be done on the issue.

Simon Douglas of AA insurance said: "A million cars seized is great news, yet there are still an estimated 1.2m vehicles on Britain's roads being driven without cover – that's around 1 out of every 25.

"The MIB, which provides compensation to innocent victims involved in collisions with uninsured drivers and drivers who fail to stop, is doing great work with the police and community leaders to get through to persistent offenders.

"We are still a long way from cleaning up Britain's roads. In uninsured driver hotspots such as parts of Birmingham, innocent motorists are eight times more likely than average to be hit by an uninsured vehicle."

He also claimed that uninsured drivers killed 160 people a year and injured 23,000 and that the work by the MIB to compensate victims of uninsured drivers adds around £33 to every car insurance policy.

See the table below for the 20 worst postcodes in the UK for uninsured drivers.