While it may not exactly be within our own work area, we couldn’t help but pick up on some rather interesting and indeed relevant news coming out of Kirklees this week. Once again, West Yorkshire Police have intensified efforts to step up their offensive against drivers who continue to plague the UK roads with unlicensed vehicles. Over the past few weeks alone, hundreds more vehicles have been seized by the police in this area alone taking the tally for 2016 beyond the 4,000 vehicle mark already.
And just for those who think it’s all just a case of gesturing and that nothing really happens, a huge proportion of the uninsured vehicles confiscated have been scrapped or sold on. 
The strong action taken by West Yorkshire Police reflects similar attitudes of complete and utter intolerance to irresponsible driving up and down the United Kingdom on the part of both law enforcement and the public in general. Uninsured drivers represent a rather terrifying and still growing risk to responsible motorists in Great Britain whose own vehicles and insurance policies face large scale threats every day.
Unfortunately, while official action and initiatives to help curb the problem of uninsured driving are being stepped up, research suggests that things are actually getting worse, rather than better. For example, Churchill Car Insurance carried out a study this year which brought to light evidence that close to 28,000 uninsured vehicles have already been confiscated by the police since the beginning of 2015. Unsurprisingly, the worst-offending region in the United Kingdom as a whole is London. According to the study, close to 10,000 cars have been seized in London alone since the beginning of the year entirely as a result of being driven without insurance. West Yorkshire came in at second place, with an estimate in the region of 4,200 confiscated since the beginning of the year.
In terms of what actually happens to these cars, it’s common for members of the public to assume that they are simply held to one side for a while and summarily returned to their owners. In reality however this isn’t the case at all as since the beginning of the year, approximately 6,700 vehicles have been shredded, crushed, scrapped and recycled creating a scrap metal haul worth in excess of £600,000. Of course when and where scrapping a confiscated vehicle makes no sense, it may be sold-on at auction. And in this instance the figures are even more impressive, with well over £1 million having been raised by the sale of confiscated cars since the beginning of the year.
“Uninsured drivers are a major concern for law-abiding motorists in West Yorkshire and anyone caught using an uninsured vehicle can expect to have it seized and a large fine, with the possibility of a court appearance,” said Chief Supt Casserly of West Yorkshire Police.
“Everyone thinks they have the freedom of the road, but the reality is that all motorists have a legal, as well as a moral responsibility to make sure they are insured.”
