Number of convictions for driving without insurance falls in Lincolnshire

Courts convicted 1,097 drivers in the Lincolnshire force area, which covers Lincolnshire, of driving without insurance in 2025, new analysis of Ministry of Justice records shows.

That is 20.1 convictions for every 10,000 vehicles on the area's roads, in line with the England and Wales average and the 15th highest rate of the 42 police force areas in England and Wales.

Convictions in the area were down 11.3 per cent on 2024 and down 30.3 per cent on 2019. The average fine was £476, and 21.7 per cent of those convicted were disqualified from driving.

Across England and Wales, courts convicted 76,983 drivers of having no insurance in 2025, up 7.0 per cent on 2024 and the second year in a row the figure has risen. The average fine was £467, 97.5 per cent of those convicted were fined and 21.9 per cent were disqualified. The average annual premium paid for car insurance is £566, according to the Association of British Insurers, so for many drivers the fine for being caught is now lower than the cost of a year's cover.

How Lincolnshire compares with neighbouring force areas

Nottinghamshire: 26.3 per 10,000 vehicles, 1,720 convictions, down 3.1 per cent on 2024, 7th of 42.
Leicestershire: 20.1 per 10,000 vehicles, 1,408 convictions, down 5.7 per cent on 2024, 14th of 42.
Lincolnshire: 20.1 per 10,000 vehicles, 1,097 convictions, down 11.3 per cent on 2024, 15th of 42.
Humberside: 19.8 per 10,000 vehicles, 1,169 convictions, down 13.7 per cent on 2024, 16th of 42.
Cambridgeshire: 15.5 per 10,000 vehicles, 1,121 convictions, up 77.7 per cent on 2024, 22nd of 42.
Norfolk: 12.8 per 10,000 vehicles, 825 convictions, down 38.3 per cent on 2024, 26th of 42.
England and Wales: 20.8 per 10,000 vehicles, 76,983 convictions, up 7.0 per cent on 2024.

A high rate reflects enforcement activity as well as offending. England and Wales only.

Police can seize a vehicle driven without insurance at the roadside. Lincolnshire Police seized 8,770 vehicles for the offence between 2018 and September 2022, according to a freedom of information request by the AA. The Home Office confirmed to Parliament in November 2025 that it no longer collects seizure figures centrally, so no later count exists.

Chris Richards, founder of Temp Insurance UK, said: "A fine that averages less than a year's premium, handed to almost everyone and paired with a ban for fewer than one in four, is a price list rather than a deterrent. Drivers in Lincolnshire who borrow a car can now get cover from an hour upwards on a phone, so there is no practical reason left to drive uninsured, yet the numbers are moving the wrong way."