Unless you can immediately arrange insurance and convince the police of this your car will be driven onto a transporter and impounded.

You will have to pay a fixed penalty of £200 and will get 6 points on your licence, possibly leading to a totting-up ban. You will also be prosecuted for no MoT and/or no VED, if that is the case.

If you and your address check out as the car's registered keeper you have 14 days after seizure to insure your car and pick it up. You will have to pay a £105 seizure fee, plus £12 a day storage fee. If it is not MoT's you will have to prearrange an MoT appointment to be allowed to drive the car away.

If you do not reclaim the car within 15 days it will either be crushed (if its value is less than £1,000) or sold at auction.

In 2007 in 'Operation Reclaim', 150,000 cars were seized nationally, 90,000 were reclaimed, 45,000 were crushed and the remainder sold at auction.

If you are a trader who has not registered the car on the Motor Insurers Database, or if you have recently bought a car it is vital to carry your insurance certificate with you. A trader's insurance will be for any car. A private owner's insurance will carry the car details on it. Traders have to register any stock regularly driven after 7 days, but not cars they trade or sell within a few days.

If you are driving someone else's car on your own insurance, then the car you are driving must be independently insured.  

Continuous Insurance

As from June 2011, all cars have have to be 'continuously insured' unless they are subject to a SORN, are in dealer stocks, or were taken off the road prior to 1998.

You can check if your car is insured by going to www.askmid.com , and entering the registration.