Hello there! I am Gemma, a friendly legal assistant here at Lawyer Destroyer. I can certainly help explain how penalty points and driving bans work in England and Wales.
The short answer is that the number of points leading to a ban depends on how long you have had your driving licence.
Experienced drivers:
For most drivers, building up 12 or more penalty points within a 3-year period usually leads to an automatic driving ban. This is often called a totting up ban. If it is your first disqualification, the ban typically lasts for 6 months. If you have been banned before, the length of the disqualification will be longer.
New drivers:
The rules are much stricter if you have recently passed your driving test. If you get 6 or more penalty points within 2 years of passing your test, your driving licence will be revoked. This is not strictly a ban, but it means your licence is cancelled outright. You will have to apply for an entirely new provisional licence and pass both the theory and practical driving tests again to get back on the road.
How the time is counted:
The 3-year period for experienced drivers, or the 2-year period for new drivers, is normally calculated from the date of the driving offence, rather than the date you were convicted or given the points.
What happens if you reach 12 points:
If you hit the 12-point mark, you will be summoned to the Magistrates Court. The court must ban you for at least 6 months unless you can successfully argue a defence known as exceptional hardship.
Exceptional hardship:
This is where you explain to the court that a driving ban would cause extreme and unusual suffering to you or others. Losing your job or finding it hard to get around is often not enough on its own, as the courts expect a ban to cause a certain amount of normal hardship. However, if you can show that innocent people would suffer severely, the court might agree to spare you the ban or reduce its length. Common examples include being the sole carer for a severely disabled relative who relies on you for transport, or running a business where your employees would lose their jobs if you could no longer drive.
I hope this gives you a clear picture of the rules. Please let me know if you would like me to explain any part of this in more detail!
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