THERE will be more than a few readers who have suffered the distress and considerable financial loss involved in being in a car accident, often without any fault on their part, with an uninsured driver.

Offences involving failure to hold a valid insurance policy crop up regularly in Britain's courts. Recent cases in Skipton produced fines of between £50 and £200 plus a few penalty points, which may or may not have resulted in a ban under the "totting up" procedure. Compared to the cost of paying for car insurance, the fine is still a considerable saving for the offender.

Anecdotally, this is the tip of the iceberg. For example: a person takes out motor insurance, perhaps by standing order, then cancels it to obtain a refund or halts the standing order but retains the certificate, which is produced if stopped by police.

Motoring laws need tightening. The penalty for driving without insurance must be raised significantly. An automatic ban for at least 12 months should be mandatory, the offender's vehicle ought to be confiscated.

A national computerised database registering all motor insurance needs to be available to police to check at roadside whether a person carries valid insurance. If not the vehicle should be impounded and compulsorily sold to compensate legally insured drivers who have to pay increased premiums and an excess to have their vehicles repaired.

In short, it is time to start treating driving without insurance at least as seriously as we treat driving while over the alcohol limit.