Another driver is receives a fixed penalty of 3 penalty points in
August 2009. She then
r e c e i v e s 6 p o i n t s f o r
speeding in May 2010.
Finally, she is stopped by the
police in July 2012 for using
her mobile phone. She
receives a court citation in
October 2012. She appears
in court in January 2013,
pleads Guilty as libelled and receives 3 penalty points. A common
misconception is that the driver will not be subject to a totting-up
ban as more than 3 years have passed between receiving her first
set of penalty points and her final set. This is incorrect as the
relevant dates are the dates of incident, not the dates of
endorsement. The driver has been involved in a number of
incidents within a 3 year period and received 12 penalty points as
a result. The date that the licence is actually endorsed is irrelevant.
However this ban is not compulsory. Section 35(4) means that a
ban does not have to be imposed if the result of such a ban would
cause 'exceptional hardship'.
intention that 'ordinary' hardship shall be insufficient to save the