Checking if a driver is insured online

[downfader]

We've all done it, used askmid or another website to find out a couple of details about a driver or car after some plum has driven at us, cut us off or sworn like a petulant child.

However from a legal perspective its my understanding that its actually illegal to search those details unless we're either the driver, buying or selling the vehicle, or a member of the forces or an insurance firm dealing with said vehicle or driver.

Shouldnt this be changed?

I mean, imagine if you could find out information legally and everyone had access to it? Would that be a good thing? I once read that in Sweden they used to have directories of driver's registrations that you could search through if a driver did something illegal or abusive, and partly as a result their drivers seemed to be more polite and courteous to other road users.

I have also read that in the UK you can apply with a fee (the keyword is "apply") for driver's info if you have the reg.

Shouldnt we just formalise this all? Make it simpler. If you have concerns about a driver you can search the reg, find some details and then formally send the fact they're uninsured to Plod and make their life easier. I'm certainly not saying we should be able to publish private residences online or in the press, but there is also something to be said for checking that said car is registered to a particular property.

Thoughts?

 

[rusky]

IIRC, I think Monaco or somewhere else in Europe publishes a little book that lists the drivers details including their address.

Maybe people would be more courteous if they knew the information is redily available!

 

[downfader]

IIRC, I think Monaco or somewhere else in Europe publishes a little book that lists the drivers details including their address.

Maybe people would be more courteous if they knew the information is redily available!

I seem to remember that being said on Jeremy Clarkson's Speed series... god I have a terrible memory.

 

[661-Pete]

I don't think it's our place to play at being policemen. If you have a problem with a vehicle and you have its full reg. and description, pass it on to the Plod, they can check up driver details in an instant. That's their job. Otherwise there's a risk of this information being used maliciously.

But....

I would find it useful, if I have a partial numberplate, or a complete numberplate but can't identify the make/model of vehicle (as happened to me a few days ago), to be able to check if the vehicle exists and what its make/model/colour is. That gives us something to go on when reporting a driver to the police. The RAC used to provide such a service for free, I believe, but now it is paid-for.

 

[classic33]

Why not have the insurance details on the windscreen, as they have in Ireland. VED & Insurance discs to be clearly visible.