Prosecutions Threatened As The Mib Get Tough

By: Mark Burdett

When most people hear about an MIB crack down thoughts may well turn to Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones once again saving the earth from aliens in the Men in Black series of films.

However in a new get tough campaign by the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) thousands of motor and company fleet operators risk being prosecuted by the Police for not keeping the Motor Insurance Database up to date.

Despite it being a legal requirement that has now been operation for 3 years as many as 200,000 vehicles in 14,000 fleets across the UK still havent been registered on the Motor Insurance Database. The result of which is that their details are now being passed to the Police for prosecution.

Neil Drane, head of the Motor Insurers Information Centre at the MIB said, Were tired of waiting over 3 years for some fleets to fulfil their legal requirements. We will be getting the Police involved later this year and thousands of files could be heading towards the Crown Prosecution Service.

In an added twist Police forces across the UK are now also linking the Motor Insurance Database into their Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (ANPR) which is being installed in more and more patrol cars. The result of this is that more and more vehicles risk being pulled over and deemed uninsured.

Mark Burdett of Northern Counties Insurance Brokers, the UKs Experts in Motor Trade Insurance and Fleet Insurance said, We provide clients with information, advice and guidance on how to keep the MID updated as well as stressing how important it is to do so. For certain insurance companies this means that we can collect information from the client and actually update the MID for them. For others the onus is on the client to update the MID themselves so we just point out how easy it is to actually do it."

Mark went on to add,"Northern Counties have also developed reminders that are issued on Proposal Forms, at renewal and when changes are made as well as having a section on our website at www.northerncounties.com dedicated to the MID which gives customers additional information. This will hopefully mean they arent amongst the thousands of fleet operators who now risk fines and prosecution. For anyone still unsure about the MID and their legal requirements when it comes to keeping it updated I would strongly recommend speaking to your insurance provider. A 2 minute phone call now could be the difference between being legal or not!

For further information on the MID visit www.interactive.midupdate.com/e-series or for information on the UKs Experts in Motor Trade Insurance and Fleet Insurance visit www.northerncounties.com

About the Author



Mark Burdett is the Marketing Manager for Northern Counties Insurance Brokers. Northern Counties are the UK's Experts in Motor Trade Insurance and Fleet Insurance and are able to save UK businesses time and money on their Insurance. For further information visit http//www.northerncounties.com or http//www.northerncounties.com/pol_motortrade.asp