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Driving without a driver license

  • 01-03-2010 2:20pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4


    What are the legal/criminal consequences of driving without a driver license in Ireland?

    I recently found out that a person I know has been driving without a driver license for years. The person never had a full license to begin with and drove around with a learner license until it expired years ago.

    Strangely, his car is insured and all the necessary documents are up to date. How can that be? Do all these various institutions give out car insurance, motor tax certificate etc. without proof of driver license? Again, how can that be?


Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,898 ✭✭✭✭seanybiker


    no license so he isnt insured.


  • Registered Users Posts: 417 ✭✭randomname


    What are the legal/criminal consequences of driving without a driver license in Ireland?

    I recently found out that a person I know has been driving without a driver license for years. The person never had a full license to begin with and drove around with a learner license until it expired years ago.

    Strangely, his car is insured and all the necessary documents are up to date. How can that be? Do all these various institutions give out car insurance, motor tax certificate etc. without proof of driver license? Again, how can that be?

    These kind of people need to be reported to the guards.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4 soldiergirl


    That is just it. He is insured as I have seen the insurance policy. I think it might have to do with the fact that he used to be insured with his now estranged wife and when he removed her from the policy it was done so by the insurance company without questions asked.

    What kind of possible consequences could this possibly have for this person? He also does not wear a seatbelt and at times drives under the influence of alcohol. The state does not have the right to tell him what to do?!


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 1,924 Mod ✭✭✭✭MascotDec85


    What are the legal/criminal consequences of driving without a driver license in Ireland?

    I recently found out that a person I know has been driving without a driver license for years. The person never had a full license to begin with and drove around with a learner license until it expired years ago.

    Strangely, his car is insured and all the necessary documents are up to date. How can that be? Do all these various institutions give out car insurance, motor tax certificate etc. without proof of driver license? Again, how can that be?

    Easy.

    Insurance company asks are you a full licence holder.

    Person replies yes.

    If that person is involved in an accident they are not insured.

    People like that should not be on the road :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4 soldiergirl


    Thanks for the comment. I assumed that any car insurance obtained or renewed using false information would be invalid, but the person in questions insists that I cannot possibly know what I am talking about, as I am not Irish.
    However, I have a full Canadian and German driver license, have been driving for the last 25 years, and do assume that the legal/criminal consequences for driving without a licence in Ireland are similar to those in other western countries.


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  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 1,924 Mod ✭✭✭✭MascotDec85


    Thanks for the comment. I assumed that any car insurance obtained or renewed using false information would be invalid, but the person in questions insists that I cannot possibly know what I am talking about, as I am not Irish.
    However, I have a full Canadian and German driver license, have been driving for the last 25 years, and do assume that the legal/criminal consequences for driving without a licence in Ireland are similar to those in other western countries.

    You'd be 100% correct.

    If the Gardai were to stop him he'd be charge with Driving Without Insurance and be banned from driving.

    The person is being completely reckless.

    Personally I'd have no problem in informing the Gardai. Unlicenced drivers have no right to be on the road. How would you feel if knowing what you do the person went out and killed someone on the road?


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,433 ✭✭✭jhegarty


    seanybiker wrote: »
    no license so he isnt insured.

    An expired provisional is enough to be legally covered for insurance.


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,357 ✭✭✭✭kippy


    jhegarty wrote: »
    An expired provisional is enough to be legally covered for insurance.

    Where are you getting that from?
    I would have thought that not to be correct (but I have nothing to back that thought just hope and common sense)


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,433 ✭✭✭jhegarty


    kippy wrote: »
    Where are you getting that from?
    I would have thought that not to be correct (but I have nothing to back that thought just hope and common sense)


    Every insurance policy covers an expired license the same an active one , as long as you haven't been disqualified.

    If you check your policy the wording will be like ".... holding , or having held a license....."

    It's designed to protect the person this yahoo runs over , but as a by product does make him insured.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 1,924 Mod ✭✭✭✭MascotDec85


    There's a thread about this on boards.ie

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055749644&page=2

    Here's another. This person raises and interesting point:

    http://www.face.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=64117972
    they are and they aren't.

    If you remove the insurance from them, it is not just them that suffer in a crash (that is their fault) - the victim then has no insurance to claim off, and would have to go to the Uninsured Drivers fund, which can be a pain in the ass.

    The law states, basically, that once someone pays for insurance it can not be taken away to the determent of a third party.

    What will happen is that the insurance company will pay out like normal, and can then go after the learner driver for the money paid out. So the victim gets their compensation through the learner driver's insurance, and the learner driver ends up paying the insurance company back.

    Regardless of the complexities on the insurance minefield the person is unlicenced and shouldn't be driving unaccompanied


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4 soldiergirl


    You are right I will have to make a decision about what to do with this information, as I am not only worried about his safety, but especially about the safety of others.
    However, I am now in a situation where I am being accused of potentially ruining his life and livelihood should I take any sort of acting.
    If stopped in Canada, the first thing a police officer says in accordance with standard police procedures is “Can I please see your driver license and registration” - regardless of the reason for being stopped.
    That does not seem to be case in Ireland as he was stopped for various reasons in the past, including speeding. Again, he does actually have car insurance, which he must have gotten with his learner license, but that learner license expired years ago (at least 5 yrs. Ago).
    Therefore, unless Garda specifically asks for proof of license, which they do not seem to do, he is fine when stopped as all his relating paper work is in order. I guess that as long as he stays with that same insurance company nobody will question his driver license status.
    I find it hard to believe that a person with any kind of expired driver license would be covered by car insurance for years without end.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,905 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    Strange one this, i would have thought it open and shut, as in you have no licence therefore your insurance is invalid, however i would understand if they allow a full licence to expire, because it's only a paperwork issue, however a provisional expiring should mean that the driver has "no" licence at all.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 1,924 Mod ✭✭✭✭MascotDec85


    You are right I will have to make a decision about what to do with this information, as I am not only worried about his safety, but especially about the safety of others.
    However, I am now in a situation where I am being accused of potentially ruining his life and livelihood should I take any sort of acting.
    If stopped in Canada, the first thing a police officer says in accordance with standard police procedures is “Can I please see your driver license and registration” - regardless of the reason for being stopped.
    That does not seem to be case in Ireland as he was stopped for various reasons in the past, including speeding. Again, he does actually have car insurance, which he must have gotten with his learner license, but that learner license expired years ago (at least 5 yrs. Ago).
    Therefore, unless Garda specifically asks for proof of license, which they do not seem to do, he is fine when stopped as all his relating paper work is in order. I guess that as long as he stays with that same insurance company nobody will question his driver license status.
    I find it hard to believe that a person with any kind of expired driver license would be covered by car insurance for years without end.

    Seems to be for the reasons quoted by jhegarty and the thread I found.

    You are required to carry your licence with you at all times.

    I've always been asked for it when stopped by the Gardai. One time I didn't have it on me and had to show it at the nearest Garda station within 7 days I think it was along with my Insurance Cert.

    The person is trying to put you on a guilt trip. It seems they aren't licenced out of sheer laziness. They must have had umpteen chances to do it properly.
    It's this simple, get a licence or don't go on the road. At this point in time, being untested they have serious potential to ruin someone else's life.

    Licenced or not when we get in a car we are in charge of something that has the potential to kill.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ciarara


    in all honesty i know its wrong and everything but my granny has never gotten a license because when she was young she didn't have to get a license and it's probably like that for a lot of people (she drives my grandad's car sometimes and he is insured) and even though she knows its wrong she just thinks she is too old to get a license and therefore will never try. the guards in this country seem to allow those sorts of things to go on, you know one set of rules for one set of people and a completely different set of rules for the rest of us


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