The research found 13% of vehicles in this area have no insurance meaning if a motorist was involved in an accident with a car here, there’d be a one in eight chance the other vehicle wasn’t insured.

Five of the top ten UK uninsured vehicle hotspots, as a percentage of vehicles in the area, are located in London.

As well as East London, North, South East, North West and East Central London are all plagued by uninsured motorists. At least one in 15 vehicles in each area in the UK’s top ten hotspots is uninsured.  This means drivers involved in an accident in each of these areas face the significant risk of finding the other driver has no legal or financial protection.

Mark Chiappino, honest motoring champion at Churchill, said: “The number of uninsured vehicles on the roads is alarming.  Car insurance is a legal requirement but hundreds of thousands of motorists continue to flout the law.  Drivers across the UK are paying higher premiums as a result of unscrupulous drivers that fail to insure their vehicles.  We are calling for a greater recognition of the risks of uninsured motoring in the UK and far tougher penalties for those convicted of this offence.”

In absolute terms the highest number of uninsured vehicles in the UK is estimated to be located in Birmingham.  The UK’s second city is home to around 55,000 uninsured vehicles.

Manchester (37,000), Belfast (30,500) and Liverpool (27,300) also rank in the top five for the highest number of uninsured vehicles.

It is estimated there are over one million uninsured drivers on the road, so being involved in an accident with one of these motorists driving illegally is a very real possibility. Data from the Department for Transport shows around ten per cent of road traffic accidents, where an injury has been sustained, involved a ‘hit and run’ driver.