Currently reading: Pay the premium, beat the ban

Drivers racking up points for motoring offences are being targeted by insurance companies offering policies which pay out compensation to those who lose their licences.The latest scheme, offered by online broker www.protection-insurance.com, claims to help drivers who are convicted of speeding carry on with their lives, ‘but more slowly’.

Annual premiums start at £50 a year and anyone relieved of their licence can get reimbursed for travel expenses such as trains, taxis and flights. To qualify for the FlashProtect cover you must currently have fewer than six points on your licence, with no previous convictions for dangerousdriving.The FlashProtect scheme is already coming under pressure from road safety groups outraged that it might encourage speeding and the flouting of other motoring laws. The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety said: ‘It is disgraceful to sell a policy which is tantamount to saying it’s okay to speed.’

Protection-insurance, however, maintains that its policy does not condone speeding, but instead ‘offers a way for people to maintain their way of life despite being banned’.

Pressure groups have already sent past schemes back to the drawing board. Insurance company St Christopher launched a scheme 20 years ago to protect anyone banned from driving for being over the alcohol limit, but dropped it following widespread criticism.

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