Penalties and Disqualification
A brief guide to penalties for motoring offences
All endorsable offences and disqualifications will be recorded on your driving licence. Although penalty points only count for 'totting up' purposes for three years, longer periods must pass before you can apply to the DVLA to have them removed from the licence (and a fee is payable).
For endorsements the period is four years from the date of the offence, and for disqualifications four years from the date of conviction. Note: for certain drink-driving offences the period is 11 years from the date of conviction.
"Totting up"
If you receive 12 or more points in a three-year period, calculated for most offences from the date of offence to date of offence, you will be liable to an automatic disqualification.
The length of the disqualification will be at least six months; it will be at least 12 months if there has been a previous 'totting up' disqualification within three years of the last offence.
Courts have the discretion not to disqualify, or to reduce the period of disqualification, when they consider mitigating circumstances exist.
However, the law restricts what the court can take into account:
- no account can be taken of any circumstance which it is suggested lessens the seriousness of an offence
- no account can be taken of any circumstance which has already been taken into account by a court within the previous three years and when the court either did not disqualify or reduced the disqualification period which would otherwise have been imposed
- hardship will not be a 'mitigating circumstance' unless it is exceptional hardship
Endorsable motoring offences
For any endorsable offence, the court has the discretion to disqualify if it considers the circumstances to be serious enough, even if you have fewer than 12 penalty points on your licence.
Obligatory disqualification
There are some offences, eg dangerous driving and drink driving, where the court must order disqualification. In these cases, you can still present any mitigation, if it exists, but there will be a minimum period that the court must impose unless it accepts there are special reasons.
New drivers
If you passed your test after 1 June 1997, and reach a total of six points within two years of passing your test, you will no longer be a qualified driver, and will be required to retake the practical and written tests.