The Wrong Message
A new scheme operating across half the country will see drivers without insurance being let off the hook with nothing more than a £200 fine. If they plead poverty it will be reduced to just £65.

This sends out the wrong message to rogue drivers. What incentive do they have to buy insurance when they can pay a cheap £65 fine instead? (And that's only if they are caught!) Such cases may not even go to court in an attempt by the government to cut the cost of prosecuting illegal drivers.

It will be seen as a worse offence to park on a yellow line (fined up to £80 in London) than it is to drive without insurance.

Another planned change of sentencing policies will see disqualified drivers caught driving being given community service instead of a possible jail sentence.

One Million Illegal Drivers in UK
No justice when illegal drivers kill on roads

If you're a motorist with road tax, insurance, MoT and a valid licence then can you think of a good reason why one million other motorists are allowed to get away without any of these legal requirements?

These law breakers are not a small minority. The Department for Transport estimate that at least 1 million people are driving illegally while random police checks suggest the figure could be as high as 5 million. In 2002 there were 315,000 convictions for driving without insurance, up 18% on the previous year. However, the average fine was just £150, a snip considering the average insurance premium is £350 and far more for the young men who are the majority of offenders. Nineteen year old Lee Colligan, fined £75 in September 2004, said "There's a choice between the off-chance of a £75 fine or paying more than £1000 to insure a car for a year. That's not much of a choice for someone who is unemployed living in Liverpool." Or anywhere else in the country for that matter.

More Facts
Uninsured drivers are 10 times more likely to drink and drive and be involved in an accident. They are 6 times more likely to be driving an unroadworthy vehicle and 3 times more likely to be convicted of driving without due care and attention. By failing to register a car with the DVLA or giving false information allows drivers to appear as ghosts to speed cameras or any incident where a number plate is the only means of identifying the driver.

If the police focus less on speed cameras and more on tackling illegal drivers then the roads will become much safer. On top of that insurance premiums would fall because crashes involving uninsured drives costs £500m a year and adds £30 to £60 to each insurance policy.

One of the most dangerous groups of illegal motorists are unaccountable immigrants who haven't taken a British driving test or learnt the Highway Code. Several fatal incidents have highlighted the growing problems.

Callum Oakford
Nine year old Callum was killed by a speeding illegal immigrant who fled the scene after the accident. The police did a good job of tracking down Kamel Kadri, an Algerian who had no licence, no MoT and no insurance. Kadri abandoned the car and disposed of the keys. He came to Britain using a stolen passport and his asylum claim was rejected but he remained in the country. Alarmingly he was charged with only minor motoring offenses and sentenced to just 8 months for failing to stop after an accident. Kadri was given a further 16 months for having a false passport and banned for driving for two years. It's incredible how this man who has no conscience and no legal right to be in the country escaped punishment for killing this young boy.

Update: 24 hours later the sentence of 8 months was reduced because the judge had exceeded his powers. The maximum sentence he could impose under the current law for failing to stop is 6 months. Callum's family is understandably outraged by this injustice.

Deborah Peaty
Three asylum seekers were charged with causing the death of 26 year old teacher, Deborah Peaty. She was seven months pregnant but sadly her daughter did not survive either. Speaking through an interpreter, Ratnam Yogan and two others entered a plea of not guilty. They were remanded on bail while the case was adjourned.

Update (17-Feb-04): Yogan has fled from Britain while on bail. A serious blunder by the authorities meant that he was not forced to hand over his travel documents allowing easy passage from the UK to escape the trial and whatever punishment he was going to receive. To make matters worse a second asylum seeker involved with the tragic accident has also skipped bail. The police wisely opposed bail but naive buffoons in the judiciary thought it was perfectly safe to allow the killers several weeks of freedom in the hope they would willingly return to court to face trial. Police across Europe have been asked to keep an eye out for the wanted men.

Amy Houston (see full story)
A failed asylum seeker has been jailed for just four months for killing 12 year old Amy Houston after a hit and run incident. Aso Mohammed Ibiiahim, a Kurdish Iraqi, got behind the wheel despite being disqualified and having no insurance. Amy's father said "He's laughing at the justice system and he is laughing at every decent person in this country. He will be back on the streets in two months while we face a life sentence." The magistrates, who could only impose a maximum six-month jail term, gave Ibiiahim credit for an early guilty plea.

Chris & Anne Mallet
Chris Mallet and his newlywed wife Anne were killed when an illegal immigrant drove his speeding BMW into their car at Holbeach, Lincolnshire. Polish farm worker Wlodzimierl Bogowsld, who also died, was almost five times over the drink-drive limit and had no insurance or MoT for his vehicle. He was driving on the wrong side of the road without lights.

Nigel Hodgson
Raj Gohil drove through traffic calming obsticles between 50 and 70mph before crashing into a 38 year old father. Gohil drove off but gave himself up the following day. He was charged with death by dangerous driving and sentenced to 5 years in a young offenders' institution and banned from driving for 8 years - even though he has never taken a driving test. No doubt the young offenders's institution will reward him with regular access to TV, sports facilities and probably some excursions too.

Paul Fritchley
A father of two was killed by Nana Kemajou, a 30 year old asylum seeker from Cameroon. Kemajou was speeding at 90mph when he hit the back of Paul Firtchley's car. Kemajou was given a sentence of only two and a half years. Judge Jamie Tabor claimed the sentencing guidelines for dangerous driving where the aggravating factor is speeding has a maximum of just 3 years. Kemajou had been living in Gloucester under the name of a French national and used a bogus National Insurance number to get a job at a dairy. He had no license and no insurance and blamed the accident on Mr Fritchley despite witnesses saying otherwise.
Would a genuine asylum seeker fleeing a country in fear of his life choose to break several UK laws, commit fraud and kill someone and claim it was the victim's fault? It's about time we closed our doors to all but the most obviously genuine and deserving cases of asylum. The British have rights too and all of the victims on this page had the right to live, but that was taken away from them.

Fatalities by British Drivers Who Should Know The Law

Jade Forster
14 year old Jade was killed as a passenger in Gareth Frost's unroadworthy car he had bought for just £50. Frost, 17, had taken 2 ecstasy tablets, smoked cannabis and drunk a small amount of alcohol. Fuelled by this concoction of drugs he crashed his Metro into a lamp post at 70mph, skidded for 50 yards and flipped it onto its roof. He was sentenced to just 2 1/2 years for death by dangerous driving. The maximum sentence that Judge Robert Moore could have imposed is 10 years.

Laura Swadkins
15 year old Laura was walking home from school when drugged up Philip Russell, 24, ran her over after losing control of his battered £120 Ford Fiesta. Russell overtook 3 vehicles at speed in a residential street. He had only ever taken 4 driving lessons and never intended to take a test or get insurance. Six weeks earlier he had been released on bail despite jumping bail for his previous offense of car theft. Russell has a string of motoring related offenses. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison for causing Laura's death plus a further year for other offenses. The judge also issued a 7 year driving ban but it's unclear if the ban starts immediately or after he's released. Either way, a ban is immaterial to a man who's prepared to drive without a license and on drugs.

Anthony Wilkinson
A 35 year old school teacher was killed when Mark Webster drove his van into him after a 6 hour drinking session. Webster failed to stop despite pleas from his two passengers. Thinking the victim was a refugee Webster told his passengers "It doesn't matter, it was only a Kosovan." After 16 hours he was arrested by not charged for drink-driving because no alcohol was left in his system. However, he admitted to careless driving, no insurance, failing to stop and driving while disqualified. With 21 previous driving convictions behind him the judge handed out a tiny 6 month prison sentence. Is that how much a life is worth?

Marc Downing
A hit-and-run driver was fined just £83 for killing Marc, but minutes earlier the same magistrates fined another motorist £443 for crashing into a tree. Although the magistrates thought the health of a tree is far more valuable than an innocent person's life, they didn't see Marc's killler, 25 year old Hayley Matthews, as a threat to the public. The previously convicted drug user was driving an uninsured Ford Escort with defective headlights when she hit Marc and left him to die in the road. His mother described the penalty as an insult to her son.

Action Required Now!

Stop & Search
Police must stop vehicles that look unworthy of passing an MoT or show other signs that the car or driver may not be legal. Police need protection so they can do their job without fear of being branded racist should their "suspect" be of non white/British origin.

Replace Speed Cameras
Speed cameras should be replaced with new hi-tech cameras that read number plates and take a photo of the car and driver. A computer checks databases to ensure the car is registered, taxed, and the owner has a valid driving license. Any discrepancies should alert a local police patrol. Existing systems only issue a fine in the post which is useless if the driver has no respect for the law.

More Police Patrols
Increasing police patrols can help detect and deter illegal drivers. Speed cameras should not be allowed to replace police patrols. The police must be told to prioritise finding these motorists above trapping drivers who are a few miles above the speed limit. More patrols increases the chance of encountering a drunk, drugged, or unfit driver.

Tougher Laws & Judges
Causing a death on the road is bad enough, but doing so while uninsured or without a license suggests those drivers care little of the consequences. In such circumstances the law must provide an adequate sentence to fit the crime which it currently does not achieve. A long prison sentence, a lifetime ban, and in the case of asylum seekers enforced deportation should be mandatory.