Plans to tighten the law on driving without insurance, making it an offence to be the registered keeper of an uninsured vehicle regardless of whether it is being used, are expected to be confirmed by transport ministers today.

Failure to comply could result in a £1,000 fine and the seizure of the car.

Currently it is only an offence to drive without insurance, but under a scheme announced in January drivers must ensure that their cars are covered at all times unless they are unused and kept off the road, in which case they must register them as such to the DVLA.

Motoring organisations have welcomed the move against uninsured drivers, but said they feared that law-abiding motorists could be penalised for innocent mistakes, such as allowing their insurance to lapse while they are on holiday.

Every year uninsured and untraceable drivers kill 160 people, injure 23,000 and add £30 a year to every motorist’s insurance, the Department of Transport said.

Police seize 400 uninsured vehicles every day.

Using the motor insurance industry database that is used by the police, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency will check every driver's insurance details at least once a month, issuing reminders to anyone whose cover appears to have lapsed.

A car can only be legally uninsured if is stored off the public highway and declared as such to the DVLA by means of a Statutory Off Road Notification, 1.79 million of which were made last year.

Storage space may be an issue for many drivers who do not use their car: the DfT says that 43 per cent of British households have neither a garage nor a driveway. In London, only 27 per cent of households have a garage.

An AA spokesman said: “The insurance industry needs to work with Government to ensure that its database holds the right information at the right time – so that for example, law-abiding motorists are not wrongly accused of being without insurance especially if they change insurers.

“We also have concerns that people who are abroad or in hospital for a long time when their policy runs out, could fall foul of this," he told The Daily Telegraph.