Driving Without A Licence | Driving Without Insurance

Some common road traffic offences on the roads in Ireland are set out below together with the penalties and any possible defences.

Driving without a licence

This offence is contained in Section 38 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 and basically states that you cannot drive or allow another to drive your vehicle in a public place without the driver holding a valid driving licence.

“driving” includes managing and controlling (Section 3, Road Traffic Act, 1961)

“‘public place’ means—
		(a) any public road, and
		(b) any street, road or other place to which the public have access with vehicles whether as of right or by permission and whether subject to or free of charge;”; (Section 49, Road Traffic Act, 1994)

It must be a mechanically powered vehicle so if your vehicle is broken down or no longer capable of being mechanically propelled then it is exempt.

The only defence to this offence is that the driver holds a valid learner permit for that class of vehicle.

It is a defence for an employer who is prosecuted for employing a person without a licence to show that the driver had an effective learner permit.

It is important to note that both the driver and owner are liable on conviction and the penalties include 2 penalty points on payment of the fixed charge; if you don’t pay the fixed charge penalty the penalty is 5 points on conviction in court.

Driving without insurance

This is covered by sect. 56 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 which was substituted by sect. 34 of the Road Traffic Act 2004.

It is noteworthy that this offence can be proved even if you are only parking the vehicle as the offence states that ‘a person shall not use in a public place..’ so this does not require ‘driving’ for the offence to be proved.

Defences

If you are the owner of the vehicle which is the subject of the legal proceedings it is a good defence to show that the vehicle was being used by the driver without your consent.

If you are the driver of the vehicle and you do not have a valid insurance policy for that vehicle, it can be a good defence to show that you were acting on the express instructions of the owner (perhaps your employer).

Of course it is a good defence to show that you had in fact a valid insurance policy which you can produce later in the Garda station or court.

There are stiff penalties for driving without insurance including 6 months in jail or a fine up to £5,000.

If you are brought before a court on this charge and it is your first offence, the court has the discretion not to impose a consequential disqualification if it decides that you have a special reason for driving without insurance.

But a second or further offence for this charge will lead to an automatic disqualification for at least 2 years.

This offence will also lead to 5 penalty points for you and even if it is your first offence and the court uses it’s discretion not to impose a disqualification you will still get the 5 penalty points on your licence.

The Burden of Proof re Driving Without Insurance

It is worth noting that once a Garda asks you for production of your insurance certificate and you fail to do so, the evidential burden of proof shifts to you to prove that you had insurance in place at the time of the alleged offence. See below.

Section 56 (4) of the Road Traffic Act, 1961:

This is part of the road traffic offences series.

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