Re the vehicle being uninsured , my first thought regarding that is that the drunk driver who hit your car WAS the owner , and this was the reason for him driving off without giving you any details .
It is indeed fortunate that you got photographs of him , from which he can be identified , but I do hope that both you and at least one of your passengers saw him and would be able to formally identify him ;-)
As for insurance , the case is not as black as it might first appear ; make sure you get in touch with the Motor Insurers Bureau ( MIB ) all motor insurers are members of this and they have a fund to cover this type of incident , and you can claim against that fund rather than against your own insurer . For an uninsured vehicle which was driven by the at fault driver in an incident , it is also possible to claim against the " insurer of last resort " which will be the company which most recently wrote cover on that vehicle , and especially if it was insured by the current keeper of the vehicle ; the MIB will take care of this , but you need to lodge a claim with them .
It really would be best if you speak to , and engage , a competent lawyer specialising in motor claims to look after your interests in this case ; as long as your insurance includes legal assistance then this can be done through your own insurance , but the important thing here is to make sure you are claiming against the third party , and not your own policy .
Strictly speaking , and in the eyes of the law , even though he is uninsured , the other driver is personally liable for all damage done to your vehicle , and any legal costs incurred , as well as hire cars supplied during the time your vehicle is incapacitated : you can sue him personally for all of this , which is just what your own insurers will do if they end up paying for the repairs etc in the first instance , just to get you back on the road without delay .
I do suspect there is a fair possibility that the drunk driver and the uninsured vehicle owner might turn out to be one and the same person ; it would be worth asking your insurers if , in the first instance , if they can obtain the vehicle owner's driving licence photograph from DVLA , and compare with your photo that you will doubtless have sent to them . If the two photographs appear to correlate , then your insurers should be able to ask the police to bring the owner in for an interview in relation to the charges of at least driving without insurance , at which point you would be able to go in to the police station and formally identify him , all the better if there are two of you able to do this . If the owner alleges that someone else was driving , and again the police can REQUIRE him to provide name and address of this other driver under Road Traffic Act s172 , ( failure to comply with this request for information within the set period , 28 days from memory , is an offence in itself and can result in the owner being charged with both this offence and the offence the enquiry was related to ) , then he can still be identified in the same way and charged with driving without insurance ; along with the owner being charged with causing and permitting this offence . Oh , and since the vehicle was being used whilst uninsured , it can be seized and either destroyed if of low value or sold at auction .
