UK drivers are having to fork out on average, £31 every year for their car insurance to compensate for uninsured drivers, according to the comparison website, comparethemarket.com.

Their findings, found that uninsured drivers cost motorists £500 million every year. This excludes the financial costs that are associated with accidents that involve uninsured drivers.

Further to this, research conducted by the market research company, YouGov, found that 87 per cent of drivers feel that the government is not doing enough to limit the number of uninsured drivers. Also 79 per cent of motorists said that the current punishment for uninsured drivers are not enough.

Jeremy Moll, comparethemarket.com head of insurance, said: "If the number of illegal drivers decreases then the industry will have more flexibility in pricing policies for law abiding motorists".

Theresa Villiers, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, said: "The average penalty for an uninsured driving offence is a fraction of the cost of a year's car insurance, incentivising law-breaking.

"That cannot be right and I hope Ruth Kelly will pay attention to the 87 per cent of motorists who have told this survey that she should do something about it. Motorists have had enough of footing the bill for uninsured drivers."