Oldham was responsible for the second highest amount of uninsured drivers per 1,000 people in Great Britain being stopped and prosecuted in the last year, data has shown.

A Freedom of Information request (FOI) submitted by website Scrap Car Comparison has revealed that between June 2023 and June 2024, Oldham had the second highest number of uninsured drivers who were prosecuted per 1,000 people in the borough.

In total, the figures, provided by the DVLA, show 275 drivers in Oldham were prosecuted for driving without insurance.

Scrap Car Comparison have shown that this means that 2.62 people were prosecuted for the offence per 1,000 people in the borough, making it the second highest in Great Britain.

Oldham was second in this category only to Manchester, where 3.22 people per 1,000 were prosecuted for driving without insurance, and just ahead of Bolton in third, where the figure was 2.59.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: "The fact Manchester, Oldham and Bolton are the top three districts nationally for the detection of uninsured drivers is a positive new story for Greater Manchester Police.

"It is showing that nationally our Roads Policing Units are proactively stopping uninsured drivers and seizing their vehicles. This has been highlighted in the 10,990 uninsured vehicles seized across Greater Manchester in last year.

"In summary, we are encouraging our roads police officers to enforce traffic legislation utilising modern technology such as ANPR and providing them with a higher level of training to uncover insurance policies that are not valid or fraudulent."

David Kottaun, Operations Manager at Scrap Car Comparison, said: “Driving without insurance is a huge problem, and one that deserves to be treated severely as the implications can be incredibly costly.

"Unfortunately, it’s often innocent drivers that are made to pay the price for others who are uninsured, as in the event of a crash they’d be unable to claim for any damage to their vehicle, potentially leaving them hugely out of pocket.

“However, that’s not to say that everyone who’s on the road without insurance is doing so deliberately; even the most law-abiding drivers can get caught out if they’re not careful.

"From missing a renewal date to forgetting to sort insurance before picking up a new car to driving the car of a friends or family member, there are many reasons why people may unintentionally be falling foul of these laws."