You will of course know that you’re required to have a driving licence, insurance and MOT in order to drive a car on the road. If you don’t have all those documents there’s not a lot you can say as an excuse. In a situation where you are driving a car that is not yours (perhaps in an employer/employee situation) you wouldn’t be expected to ask to see the insurance documents.

However if driving for example a friends car and your own insurance does not cover you, a court of law must decide whether or not you made sufficient enquiries as to establish if the owner of the car was lying and led you to believe that you were covered when indeed you were not. Having said all this, if you have no insurance it’s a serious matter.

If you don’t have an MOT certificate and are asked to produce it, you should have the vehicle tested and take the certificate to the police station. It will be noted that it does not cover the date that the vehicle was being used and you’ll probably be reported for the offence. However because you now have a valid certificate in all probability you’ll just be give a caution and it won’t be pursued further.

You may or may not carry your documents with you, and although your will almost certainly be asked for them when stopped by a police officer it is not a requirement that you carry them at all times. You may be given a “producer” which means that you have to produce your documents at a local police station within seven days.

Make sure you do produce them, as you’ll get a summons without any messing about. If you don’t have a document available to you take the remainder to the police station and inform the officer handling the situation – you could be given an extension period, but the police don’t have to do this. Rather than not produce documents in the hope that nothing will be done about it (it will), go to the police station and deal with it head on – it will have a more positive effect.