5:31pm Monday 30th April 2007
A STAGGERING 50,000 uninsured vehicles are driving on the roads of Essex, police estimate.
Essex drivers account for six per cent of the two million uninsured cars the Government thinks are using Britain's roads.
But there is some good news. In Essex, the police are finding rogue cars at the rate of about 500 a month - with drivers facing prosecution and in some cases the prospect of having their cars crushed.
New laws are now on the way to allow the force to seize and crush more vehicles, as a way of detering illegal drivers.
Department for Transport spokesman Ben Wills said: "Within a year we hope to have laws which allow any uninsured vehicle to be seized - even if it is on somebody's driveway."
"Unless the owner has filled out the statutory off-road notification form, they will first get a letter reminding them the vehicle is uninsured.
"If they don't act, the vehicle could be taken and crushed."
Computerised links between the DVLA and insurers, mean police can now instantly establish who owns any vehicle and if it is insured. The figures for Essex were revealed by a member of the force's mobile support unit, Adam Pipe, who was speaking at a meeting in Basildon.
He said: "There is also an order, which allows the police to seize a vehicle which is judged to have caused alarm, harrassment or distress."
However, he stressed, the owners of such vehicles would first get a warning letter.
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