New vehicle insurance laws have been introduced which mean that all vehicles must be insured unless the DVLA has received a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) for them. If your vehicles are not insured and you haven't made a SORN, you could face a penalty of up to £1000 and the vehicle may be destroyed.
Insurers are sending out letters this month to keepers of uninsured vehicles. If you have vehicles that do not have motor insurance policies, you must:
- Insure your vehicle
- Make a SORN, if the vehicle is not used on the road
- Notify DVLA if you are no longer the registered keeper or if there are other complicating factors such as stolen, scrapped or exported vehicles
Failure to take one of these actions will result in a £100 fixed penalty.
How does this affect pre-SORN vehicles?
The SORN procedure was brought in from 31 January 1998 and vehicles which have been kept off-road since before SORN came into force are exempt from this law. If they are brought back onto the road they will no longer be exempt. If you want to bring the vehicle back into use, you will need to tax and insure it.
More information is available from the government website Direct.gov.uk
- John Attridge - 19/07/2011
One assume from reading this article that "vehicles" includes tractors. Many farmers could be affected by having self propelled farm machinery that is not insured.