A friend of mine was stopped yesterday by a total of 4 police cars and was told she had no insurance. She has recently left her previous job and the terms of her contract allow her to retain the company car for a period. It turns out that her previous employer had cancelled the insurance the day before. She had the car impounded at a cost of £140 a day and she cant get it released because she requires a V5 in her name. The V5 is in the name of the company of her previous employer. She has been told to expect a fine and 6 points by the police. Surely this cant be right ???? Doesnt the company have an obligation to maintain all of the vehicles at its disposal. The police told her that she has an obligation to ensure she has cover. Her view of course is that she did have cover. It simply isnt possible to ensure that you have cover on a company car at all times. Is it ? Any advice ?
Mate I drive a company car , have done for years and it's my responsibility to ensure its legal &.roadworthy which includes ensuring I have a new yearly copy of the insurance cert issued to me each and every year. Sorry probably not what you wanted to hear... But think your friend maybe stuffed
I agree mate but if your company cancelled the insurance ( they didnt fail to renew ) how would you know ?
The legalities of driving a vehicle ALWAYS falls with the driver. The company/transport manager will be liable under, use /cause/ permit. So basically the onus is always on the driver to ensure everything is in order and the company may then be prosecuted for allowing the driver to use the vehicle when its not roadworthy or documents up to date, or causing the person to driver it (ie telling the driver they have to use it in an unworthy condition or they will fire them if they don't do as they're told), or permitting them to use the vehicle knowing its not legal. Sorry but the law is an arse!
Having spoken to a solicitor it seems there is dual liability. They have acted on previous cases and the driver was only fined...
If she was on gardening leave you would assume full cover on vehicle to be maintained till notice period expires. Company should have advised her of cancellation AMD reason why they did it. If I was director or fleet admin , human resources I would be worried when I heard about this.
If it was cancelled without her notice rather than It not being renewed then it would be worth going To court to fight rather than jusr accept the points. So what happens if you have a valid cover note then While out someone cancels the insurance? I doubt that You would be liable unless they expect you to phone Every ten minute's to check your insurance status.
The Company are as guilty as the driver. They Knowingly allowed her to drive THEIR car without insurance............the courts would I,m sure side towards the Drivers side in this instance,Oh and I,d be trying to stuff the company for Taxi,bus fares and lack of use while it awaits a court date.....got to be worth a try?
It's really hard to comment without having the full detail of the contractual terms in which your friend kept the car. If I'm completely honest something doesn't sound right, as surely the car is one of x amount under the companies fleet insurance policy? Therefore has the policy been cancelled, not renewed as the company is about to fold or the car removed from the policy? Regardless of who's driving the car, why would a company uninsure an individual car, even If it sits until its reallocated, sent back to the lease firm or sold? Was your friend using the car for personal use or in connection with a new job/business for example? If for a new job/business, was this included in the terms of keeping the car? Understand the points and fine for driving with no insurance, as for the impound costs my understanding is this falls to the registered keeper. Need to understand why the car isn't issured, then go from there. As said the driver has a duty but so does the company. It's not reasonable to check insurance cover every time you get In the car.
they filled in a v62 today a dvla to change ownership in an attempt to get it released. police were fine with this as proof. then tried to insure the vehicle but insurance company refused because of impending prosecution so police wont release the vehicle. its getting crushed next week
I could comment further but i dont think it is appropriate. The details of why they cancelled it are clear. Take it from me it was a deliberate but badly thought out decision by the director.
It never ceases to amaze me how petty some seemingly professional organisations get when someone wants to leave. They have generally used and abused employees and made good money from their endeavours, then as soon as they want to leave it goes all primary school playground. I've encountered this kind of crap before and personally been involved in board meetings where some numpty has tabled some similar petty action. If they are the type of person to take this kind of action they should not be employed at that level. Simple. Sounds like they will lose the car as a penalty. Good!
Mate, you asked for opinions so that's what you got. I take it it's your friend that's processed the V62, if so why? If not appropriate to discuss further then fine, your obviously best placed to advise your friend. My post is not meant to come across as arsey, but there's always two sides to a story and only ones being played out.
been there done that after nine years of loyal service and they went one step further and phoned other people they know in the aerospace field to tell them I wasnt any good and not to employ me.basically ended my careerer.
tried something like that with me, phoned my main client up... bad mouthed me ect..... what he didn't know was.... i was sat in the room with the client and a very senior member of a regulatory body. Trying to help the client out... i hadn't told them i was leaving as i thought it wasn't appropriated at the time. End result work was put on hold till i started in new company, main client came with me handing over a 3 year contract to my new employer stating "the work is mine not the companies" the regulatory body well, more than check out there claims against me. as for my reason to leaving was the un ethical practices which directors wanted, which i disagreed with. ex employer well fined and suspend for 3 months....... which we then spoke to all the people i could remember who would need work doing..... oh they hate me
