Richards v Secretary Of State For Transport: Request For Stay

In that case, the judge found that, although the Road Traffic Act 1988 only requires a policy to cover liability which may be incurred in respect of the death of or bodily injury to any person or damage to property caused by, or arising out of, "the use of the vehicle on a road or other public place", the Motor Insurers' Bureau ("MIB") was nevertheless liable (at least to the extent of the minimum requisite cover of EUR 1 million per victim), because of the 2009 EU Motor Directive, which had a direct effect on the MIB (because it was held to be an "emanation of the state"). The Directive imposes an obligation on all member states to take appropriate measures to ensure compulsory insurance "in respect of the use of vehicles normally based in its territory" and, since the ECJ decision in Vnuk (which implicitly held that the obligation of compulsory insurance extends to the use of vehicles on private land - and later cases have held that explicitly), the UK has not completely implemented the obligation imposed by the Directive. Because the MIB was held to be liable, the claimant's further claim that he was entitled to Francovich damages against the Secretary of State for Transport for failing to implement the Directive was stayed. (It has been held in Roadpeace v Secretary of State for Transport that UK law is no longer compatible with the Directive following Vnuk).

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