The Motor Insurers’ Bureau is calling on government to increase penalties for uninsured drivers in order to make roads safer and save the insurance industry millions of pounds every year.

The current cost of uninsured driving on insurers is £260m annually, but government figures show the total economic cost, including emergency services, medical costs and loss of productivity, is closer to £1bn a year.

The MIB is lobbying for an increase in the current £300 fine for driving uninsured. It wants the figure to be double the average premium, which would currently see the fine quadruple to £1,200. A new YouGov survey suggests that 75% of British adults support increasing the fine for driving without insurance to this new figure.

Angus Eaton, CEO at MIB, said: “Over the last 80 years, we’ve achieved a great deal as an organisation in managing claims and tackling the wider uninsured driving problem. But we know that in simply managing claims, we’re not dealing with the problem early enough because uninsured drivers still wreck lives. And it’s getting harder to solve.

“A first step is working with the government to increase fines for those driving uninsured. We believe that the current penalty of £300 – which hasn’t changed in over ten years – simply isn’t enough of a deterrent. We’re calling for the penalty to be raised so that it is double the average premium, to help eradicate the issue.”