THOUSANDS of vehicles without insurance have been seized in North Yorkshire since 2018, a new study has found.

AA Insurance submitted a Freedom of Information request to all 46 police forces across the UK and found that since 2018, 542,370 vehicles have been taken away from drivers for not having insurance.

The figures from North Yorkshire Police show that 4,866 uninsured cars have been seized, including at least 724 so far this year.

Last year, 984 vehicles were confiscated, equating to 1.8 seizures for every 1,000 licensed vehicles in North Yorkshire, as of the end of 2021.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: "Our Traffic Officers are always working hard to ensure our road network is as safe as possible and this means continuing to have a focus on taking unsafe and illegal vehicles off the roads.

"The number of vehicles being seized for no insurance remains fairly consistent year or year.

"We believe this is due to the many enforcement operations throughout the year led by our Roads Policing and Road Safety Teams, such as the commercial vehicle week in July and the recent joint operation with the DVSA at the end of September”.

Despite the Covid-19 lockdowns, 2020 saw the most cars seized across the country as almost 130,000 were seized across the UK, including 1,111 in North Yorkshire.

In 2018 and 2019, 1,057 and 990 cars were seized respectively in the county.

North Yorkshire police had some of the lowest figures, along with the police forces of Wiltshire, Cumbria, Dyfed-Powys and Gloucestershire, who all had less than 5,000.

The forces that seized the most were the Met Police at 62,900, while the West Midlands and West Yorkshire police confiscated 44,056 and 33,829 respectively.

Gus Park, managing director for AA Insurance Services, said: "Every driver is worried about being involved in a collision, but worse still is the other party being uninsured.

“Sadly, we know that when times are hard some people try to cut their costs, and one area people are tempted to chance it, is cutting out their motor insurance.

“However, these figures show that forces across the country are on the lookout and will take an uninsured car away.

“Not only is there the chance of having your car seized, but the criminal and financial hardship is not worth the gamble."

Drivers caught without insurance can be fined at least £300 and have six points on their license, or even a driving ban if they are taken to court.

Police forces can now use automatic number plate recognition to check whether vehicles have insurance and an up to date MOT.