The Motor Vehicles (International Motor Insurance Card) Regulations 1971

Third-party risks arising out of the use of motor vehicles by visitors

5.—(1) As respects the use on a road of a motor vehicle specified in a valid insurance card, being use by the visitor to whom the card was issued, or by any hiring visitor named therein, or by any other person on the order or with the permission of the said visitor or of any such hiring visitor, section 201 of the Act shall have effect as though the said card were a policy of insurance complying with the requirements of and having effect for the purposes of Part VI of the Act in relation to such use;

Provided that where the said motor vehicle remains in the United Kingdom after the expiry of the period of validity specified in the card, then as respects any period whilst it so remains during which the vehicle is in Great Britain the said card shall not be regarded as having ceased to be in force for the purposes of the said section 201 by reason only of effluxion of the period of validity specified in the card.

For the purposes of this paragraph a motor vehicle shall be deemed not to have left the United Kingdom whilst it is only in transit between different parts of the United Kingdom.

(2) Any reference in this Regulation and in the next two following Regulations to the use on a road of a motor vehicle shall not include any use of the vehicle for the purpose of delivering it to or for the visitor at some place other than the place of entry of the vehicle into Great Britain, which is authorised under a trade licence.

6.—(1) For the purposes of sections 226, 230 and 231 of the Act, a valid insurance card shall have effect as though it were a certificate of insurance issued by an authorised insurer and in relation to any claim in respect of any such liability as is required to be covered by a policy of insurance under section 203 of the Act and arising out of the use on a road of a motor vehicle specified in such a card by the visitor to whom it was issued, by any hiring visitor named therein, or by any other person on the order or with the permission of the said visitor or of any such hiring visitor, the person against whom the claim is made shall in lieu of making the statement and giving the particulars referred to in section 209(1) of the Act, give to the person making the claim, on his demand, the serial letter or letters (if any) and serial number shown in the card, the name of the Bureau under whose authority it was issued and the name and address of the person specified therein as the insured.

(2) Any person making or intending to make any such claim as is mentioned in the preceding paragraph of this Regulation shall give notice of the claim in writing to the British Bureau as soon as practicable after the happening of the event out of which the claim arose specifying the nature of the claim and against whom it is made or intended to be made.

(3) Where owing to the presence on the road of a motor vehicle specified in an insurance card, an accident occurs involving personal injury to a person other than the driver of the vehicle, and by reason of section 226 or 230 of the Act, as modified by paragraph (1) of this Regulation, the insurance card, together with a duplicate page, is produced to a police constable or at a police station, that police constable or a police constable at that station may detach the duplicate page from the card and arrange for its retention for the purposes of recording or producing insurance particulars relating to the accident.

7.  In any civil proceedings in respect of any such liability as is required to be covered by a policy of insurance under section 203 of the Act and arising out of the use on a road of a motor vehicle specified in a valid insurance card, the production of the duplicate page detached by a police constable in pursuance of paragraph (3) of the last preceding Regulation shall be evidence that the person specified in the card as the insured has duly signed the form of authority specified in paragraph (3) on the middle page of the card shown in Schedule 1 to these Regulations or specified in paragraph (4) on page 4 of the card when in the form in Part I of Schedule 2 to these Regulations unless the contrary is proved.