Disturbing figures, unearthed today by Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone, show that there are now over 2.1 million uninsured vehicles on our roads; this is a rise of 100,000 in just one year and now amounts to 6.5% of the total UK vehicle fleet These figures show that the Department of Transport has grossly underestimated the scale and severity of the problem and their attempts to tackle it have failed miserably.
Ms Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, is calling for a crackdown on this crime as figures from the Association of British Insurers show that uninsured drivers are six times more likely to be driving a non road-worthy vehicle, and ten times more likely to have been convicted of drink driving. As with most crime it is inevitably the law-abiding public that end up footing the bill with uninsured drivers costing us on average £30 more in premiums.
Ms Featherstone said:
“The Government has obviously fallen asleep at the wheel on this one.
“Action must be taken to put a stop to this dangerous and illegal practice. These criminals are costing the taxpayer and endangering lives; they must be taken off the roads immediately.
“The fact that there are 100,000 more uninsured drivers on our roads than last year is completely unacceptable. It’s government without due care and attention; their policies for pursuing uninsured drivers have been a total failure and it’s about time they accepted the facts and took action”
Lynne Featherstone 
There is a simple solution to the problem of Insurance and that is to deal with it in the same way some Scandanavian Countries have dealt with it as follows;
1. Get rid of the Road Fund Licence Disc and make it Annual Renewal of the Registration Plates.
2. Registration Plates are manufactured by a single company under secure conditions, vetted staff etc and have a chip imbedded inside them that police vehicle can read even if the number plate is defaced or obscured.
3. The plates when made are sent by courier to the registered keepers address, no answer, no delivery as signature is required!
4. If a person currently is stopped by the Police, they will often have the car impounded, but are left to walk away, they should be arrested, charged with driving the car without insurance and held until they can get into a Magistrates Court the following day before they disappear. The penalties for driving without Insurance should be EFFECTIVE, at the moment they get derisory fines and hardly any points so there is NO INCENTIVE to buy insurance. Make the fines HEFTY so that buying insurance is the CHEAPER OPTION.