Penalty Points

In the UK, penalty points are added to your driving record and your driving licence if you commit certain driving offences. Penalty points have a typical lifespan of four years; after the fourth year, you can apply to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to have them removed. There is an exception for certain driving convictions, which must stay on your licence for eleven years; these include (but are not limited to), drink/drug driving related offences and offences related to causing death.

The number of penalty points added to your licence following a driving offence varies according to the severity of the offence. If you are convicted of aiding, abetting, counselling, procuring, causing, permitting or inciting a driving offence, the penalty points given are equal in number to those endorsed if you had committed the offence yourself. Certain 'minor' offences, such as driving a vehicle with defective tyres, carry a three point penalty, whereas more serious offences such as driving under the influence of drink or drugs, or causing death by dangerous driving, can carry up to eleven points.

If you gain twelve or more penalty points within a three year period, you are disqualified from driving under what is referred to as 'totting-up'. The disqualification lasts a minimum of six months, but a court has the right to increase the disqualification term if circumstances require it. If you are within your probationary driving period (see New Drivers), you are disqualified after just six points and must retake your driving test again before being allowed back on a public road. Certain serious offences carry compulsory driving disqualification orders, regardless of the number of penalty points you currently have. In some cases, the court that issued your conviction may order you to take an extended driving test before you are allowed to legally drive again. This is in addition to the compulsory period of disqualification.

If you have penalty points on your licence, your car insurance premium will be higher. If you commit a driving offence partway through your policy term, you are not obliged to tell your insurer straightaway: unless of course, you were disqualified from driving. This means that a driving offence will not immediately affect your premium. However, when you come to renew your policy, you must inform your insurer of any offences committed and as such, your renewal quote will be higher, according to how many penalty points you have received and the severity of the driving offence(s) you committed. Average figures suggest a rise of seven percent if you have just three penalty points, rising to twenty-five percent for six points and fifty percent for nine points.