Dudley North MP Ian Austin shares his thoughts on the town, life in Parliament, football and everything in between! Writing exclusively every week, this is your chance to hear his views and share your opinions with him by clicking on the Comment button.

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I'VE never been able to understand why people caught driving without insurance or tax get such small fines.

Research carried out in Dudley by a Neighbourhood Watch activist and a retired local magistrate found that last December almost one in every four convictions at local magistrates courts, were for motoring offences.

Of these forty five only one - a serial offender - received a custodial sentence.

On average, the rest received just a fine - including costs and a victim surcharge - of £305.04, three penalty points and a ban of just over seven months.

That means that the penalties for getting caught are significantly lower than the annual cost of insurance.

Despite government efforts to deter illegal drivers from taking to the road, I think this shows that the problem of people driving without a licence, MOT or insurance has not gone away.

UK insurance industry figures which show that more than one million people are currently driving without insurance - and the cost that is passed on to the majority of insured drivers in the UK at a yearly price of £500,000,000.

The figures also show that uninsured drivers are three times more likely to be convicted of driving without due care and attention, as well as being ten times more likely to be convicted of a drink driving offence.

Why should the decent law-abiding majority have to pay higher and higher insurance premiums because so many drivers are just flouting the law?

I want to see magistrates taking a much tougher line. We need fines that would really deter people from driving with no insurance. Repeat offenders should go to jail and drivers of uninsured cars should lose their vehicles.

I am convinced that a crack down in this area would be welcomed by the vast majority of decent law-abiding motorists. And it would show them that the government are on their side.

I think we need tougher penalties that would clearly act as a deterrent, so I've written to both the Secretary of State for Justice and the Home Secretary to put forward a number of ideas to tackle the problem, such as: Making the penalty for an uninsured driver twice the cost of insurance.

More custodial sentences for those driving without a licence and repeat offenders.

Considering seizing and scrapping cars that have been driven without a license or insurance.

What do you think of my ideas? Would tougher penalties act as a real deterrent? Comment here or email me on austini@parliament.uk

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