Totting up points on your driving Licence.

Totting Up Driving Bans and Exceptional Hardship

If a driver receives 12 or more penalty points within 3 years, they may face a driving ban under the totting up rules. This is known as a totting-up disqualification and usually results in a minimum disqualification period of 6 months.

A driving ban can have serious consequences, including loss of employment, difficulty caring for family members, financial pressure and problems attending medical appointments. In some cases, the court may decide not to impose the usual ban or reduce its length if the driver can prove exceptional hardship.

What Is Totting Up?

Totting up applies when penalty points accumulate on a driving licence over time. Points can be given for many motoring offences, including speeding, using a mobile phone while driving, careless driving, driving without insurance, failing to comply with traffic signs and other road traffic offences.

For totting-up purposes, the court looks at penalty points for offences committed within the relevant 33-year period. Some endorsements stay on a driving record for longer, but the period used for totting up is different from the period an endorsement remains visible on the licence record.

Minimum Totting Up Ban

Where a driver accumulates 12 or more penalty points, the court must usually impose a minimum disqualification period. The usual minimum ban is 6 months.

The minimum period may be longer if the driver has had previous disqualifications. The court will consider the driver's record and the statutory rules before deciding the length of any ban.

New Drivers and 6 Points

Different rules apply to new drivers. If a driver receives 6 or more penalty points within 2 years of passing their first driving test, their licence will usually be revoked by the DVLA.

This is not the same as a court-imposed totting-up ban. A revoked new driver licence means the driver will usually need to apply for a provisional licence again and pass both the theory and practical driving tests before driving unsupervised.

Exceptional Hardship

A driver who reaches 12 or more points may be able to argue that a driving ban would cause exceptional hardship. This is not automatic. The court will expect clear evidence that the hardship would go beyond the normal inconvenience of losing a licence.

Loss of a job, financial difficulty or inconvenience may not be enough on its own. The court may be more likely to consider hardship exceptional where the ban would seriously affect others, such as employees, vulnerable family members, dependants, patients, clients, or people who rely on the driver for care.

Examples of Exceptional Hardship Arguments

Exceptional hardship arguments may involve the risk of losing employment, the effect on a business or its employees, caring responsibilities, medical needs, lack of alternative transport, the impact on vulnerable dependants, or the effect on others who rely on the driver.

Each case depends on its evidence. The driver should be prepared to provide documents such as employment letters, medical evidence, financial information, care records, business accounts, staff details, travel evidence and witness statements where relevant.

Incorrect Paperwork or Special Circumstances

Some cases involve issues such as insurance mistakes, administrative errors, postal problems, incorrect documents, or misunderstandings of legal requirements. Depending on the facts, these may be relevant to the offence, mitigation, special reasons or exceptional hardship.

Legal advice should be sought promptly because the correct argument will depend on the charge, the evidence,e and the procedure. Exceptional hardship is not the same as a defence to the offence.

Preparing for Court

If you are facing a totting-up ban, you should gather evidence as early as possible. The court will need specific information about why a ban would cause exceptional hardship and who would be affected.

A solicitor can help prepare the argument, identify the right evidence and present the case clearly. If an exceptional hardship argument succeeds, the same facts cannot usually be relied on again in another totting up case within the next 3 years.

Find a Motoring Law Solicitor

To find a solicitor who may be able to help with penalty points, totting up, exceptional hardship or a driving ban, use the search facility, select Motoring Law and enter your location.