Bradford district sheds its tag as nation’s hotbed of uninsured motoring

The city’s Barkerend area was previously been singled out as having the most uninsured motorists, according to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau.

This year the dubious accolade has gone to the Bordesley area of Birmingham.

However, of the 20 worst places in the country, four are in Bradford and one is in nearby Halifax.

A MIB spokesman described uninsured driving as a “persistent problem” in both West Yorkshire and the West Midlands.

“Across the UK, there are currently an estimated 1.2 million uninsured drivers and the West Midlands makes up more than 60 per cent of the top 20 worst postcodes in the country, followed by West Yorkshire making up 25 per cent,”

Ashton West, chief executive of the MIB, the body which compensates innocent victims of uninsured and untraced motorists, said: “Although we have made significant progress in recent years with the level of uninsured driving having reduced by 30 per cent, we still need to tackle some persistent offenders.”

The MIB figures show that the third worst place for uninsured drivers is Frizinghall and Heaton, Bradford.

Barkerend, formerly in top spot, has dropped to 11th place. Halifax town centre is 13th and Great Horton, Bradford is 19th.

West Yorkshire Police chiefs say they have been working hard to tackle uninsured driving – particularly in Bradford.

Between June 2011 and May this year, 1,790 vehicles were seized in the Bradford district for having no insurance.

Inspector Dorian James, of the western area roads policing unit, said: “West Yorkshire now only has five postcodes which feature in the Motor Insurance Bureau’s top 20, down from six the previous year.

“We have seen improvements in three of the five hotspots in the 2012 figures.

“Barkerend which previously featured as the number one location nationally has now moved to number 11.

“Great Horton has also seen improvements, dropping from seven to 19 in the table. West Bowling and Bankfoot no longer even appear in the top 20.

“We have taken some big strides in addressing the problem and we are really beginning to see the fruits of our labour.

“This is thanks to dedicated operations and close partnership working. For instance, Operation Northolt has been introduced across the force which provides a highly public demonstration of our multi agency approach.

“This runs once a month and concentrates on uninsured driving hotspots across the county. Action days have already been conducted across the Bradford district including Manningham, Girlington, Frizinghall, Heaton, Barkerend, Keighley centre and Great Horton.

“We are not complacent, however, and we are acutely aware that there is more work to be done in areas like Manningham, Girlington, Frizinghall and Heaton.

“Only recently we targeted our resources in these locations under Operation Ludlow. This was designed to look at anti-social driving throughout Bradford during the weekends and evenings in particular. This resulted in the seizure of 36 vehicles.

“By continuing to maintain daily pressure on offenders across the District, we aim to build upon the positive trends which we are now beginning to see.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the largest number of uninsured cars seized in West Yorkshire had been in the Bradford south area – 1,302 between June 2011 and May this year.

The next worse place was Kirklees (696), followed by north east Leeds (575), Wakefield (563), Airedale and north Bradford (488), Calderdale (428), City and Holbeck, Leeds (393) and Leeds north west (389).

There are about 34 million drivers in the UK, of which an estimated 3.5 per cent are not insured.

Since 2005 police have seized a million uninsured vehicles, about 30 per cent of which have been crushed.