Magistrate Bridget Shaw made the comments this week after a number of people including accountants, tax specialists and a lawyer were recently fined hundreds of pounds.
While sentencing a finance worker for driving without insurance this week, she said: ‘We are having so many of these types of cases. It may be worth reminding people that the onus does fall on drivers whether they have been sent a reminder [from their insurance company] or not.’
According to figures contained within a response to a freedom of information request, the number of people caught driving without insurance has risen gradually over the years.
In 2016 there were 132 cases, 142 in 2017 and 156 in 2018.
St Brelade Centenier Amanda Wright said that expired window insurance discs formed the majority of matters that St Brelade and St Peter honorary police dealt with during parish hall inquiries.
She added that generally around 10% of those with an expired disc did not have a valid policy in place.
‘There are quite a lot of these. One of the things that causes it is how people are reliant on their insurance company to send them a reminder but the onus is on the vehicle owner to make sure they are insured,’ she said.
‘Increasingly, people are going online to get a more competitive insurance quote and expect to carry on getting reminders. However, a lot of the time they do not get sent one or they end up in your junk mail and the driver never sees it and people do not realise they are uninsured.
‘We are not able to deal with cases of people being uninsured at the parish hall – we must send it to court.’
The Centenier added that inputting the incorrect postcode in online insurance websites and taking out policies with insurance companies not recognised by the Jersey Financial Services Commission had also led to drivers’ policies being nullified
And she explained that drivers moving to Jersey with their cars from abroad often inadvertently found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
‘Often people, predominantly from the UK, who have tried their hardest to be compliant with the law, come to Jersey and tell their insurance company they are here but still fall foul of the law. Usually, their insurance firm allows them to stay outside the UK for 30, 60 or 90 days but when you become resident in Jersey you must have Jersey insurance and register your vehicle here,’ she said.
‘There is no set definition of when you become a resident but it is generally when you have no property in the UK, pay Jersey tax and social security.
‘Frequently, people who come over on a permanent contract and plan to stay for six months to see whether or not they like it do not realise they must register their car and get Jersey insurance.’
Mrs Wright, who previously worked as legal adviser in the UK, also said that a number of normally law-abiding Islanders including lawyers, bankers and medical professionals now had criminal convictions after forgetting to renew their insurance policies.
She added that some financial professionals could have to disclose the offence to the JFSC and could find it more difficult to obtain travel visas.
‘When I have been in court we have had lawyers, bankers, lots of finance workers, hospital workers – it ranges from highly professional people to those who are unemployed and are on benefits,’ she said.
‘If you travel to the USA, Australia or New Zealand you may no longer be able to get a visa online and you may be stopped from coming in and have to explain why you have a conviction.
‘Sometimes you may read in the paper that someone has got away with a £200 fine but they will have got a criminal conviction and that may have changed their life.’
