David Ruffley MP has today written to Alastair McWhirter, Chief Constable of Suffolk Constabulary, welcoming the force's efforts to clamp down on uninsured drivers but expressing his concern at the latest figures for Suffolk.

New figures revealed in answer to David's parliamentary question to Paul Goggins, Parliamentary under-secretary at the Home Office, show that the number of proceedings brought against uninsured drivers in Suffolk rose by 22 percent between 2002 and 2003. This compares with an increase of 8 percent nationally and across the East of England. These figures are the latest available but only cover the period to the end of 2003.

The change in the level of proceedings across the rest of the East of England saw an increase in Bedfordshire of 6.5 percent, 14.8 percent in Cambridgeshire, 9.1 percent in Hertfordshire and 13 percent in Norfolk. In Essex the number of proceedings fell by 4 percent.

David said:

'Clamping down on uninsured drivers is vital to keeping our roads a safer place to be for the vast majority of Suffolk's residents who are law abiding.

'Uninsured drivers are a blight on our community and I applaud our local police force's efforts to stamp them out.

'I have written to Alastair McWhirter welcoming Suffolk Constabulary's efforts to stamp out uninsured drivers but I have also asked him to explain the level of year on year of increase comparable to previous years and whether he believes we are seeing a spate of this kind of offence in the region.

'An increase of 22 percent in the number of proceedings brought against uninsured drivers between 2002 and 2003 is, at face value, worrying.

'I am very concerned that this is the largest increase in any of the counties in the Eastern region and well above the national average of an 8 percent increase in the same period.'