Penalty Points

It is difficult to always know where you stand with your licence and how “at risk” you are of being disqualified.  At Motorbike Solicitor we have tried to make it as easy as possible for you.

Many road traffic offences carry endorsement on you driving licence.  Any offence which carries an endorsement (endorseable offences) requires a court to endorse you licence with either penalty points or a disqualification. The minimum number of points which can be endorsed on a licence is currently 3.

If an offence carries endorsement with penalty points then it gives the court the discretion to disqualify you from driving. Some offences carry a mandatory disqualification for a minimum period of time.  If you are disqualified for an offence then you do not have points placed on your licence.

Points must remain on your licence for 4 years from the date of the offence which they were placed on your licence for.  However, they only remain relevant to any offences which are committed within 3 years of the original offence.

After 4 years you can send your licence to the DVLA who will remove the points from the counterpart of your licence. 

When you get 12 points on your licence the court must disqualify you from driving for a minimum period (usually 6 months) unless you can persuade them that you have grounds for mitigating the normal consequences of that, such as that you or someone else will suffer exceptional hardship as a result of your disqualification.  To decide how many points you have on your licence the court will add up all points on your licence for offences committed 3 years before the current offence.  Any other penalty points will be “ignored” for that purpose.