Totting Up ban – when are you liable to receive one?

Most motoring offences carry the penalty of ‘penalty points’ on your licence. The amount of points you receive will depend on the particular motoring offence you have been found guilty of and points will ‘tot up’ on your licence if you continue to be caught causing a motoring offence.

If you reach the stage where you have reached 12 points on your licence then the Totting Up procedure will apply. You will be required to attend court where, in accordance with section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, you will face a totting up ban from driving. A totting up ban can only be imposed at a court hearing and court guidelines state that the minimum amount of time you should be disqualified from driving for is 6 months. However, if you have received a previous totting up ban within 3 years of your latest offence the minimum ban you are likely to face is 12 months. Similarly, if you have received two totting up bans in the three years preceding your latest offence you are likely to face a minimum ban of two years.

When faced with a driving ban, the actual reason for each individual set of points on your licence is of no relevance. For example, the points could be for speeding, traffic light offences, mobile phone use while driving, or no MOT certificate. As soon as you reach 12 points on your licence the Totting Up procedure will begin and you will face a ban from driving.

In a very small number of circumstances you may be able to escape a driving ban, even though the court guidelines suggest a minimum 6 month ban. If you can prove that you would suffer ‘exceptional hardship’ by losing your licence then you may be able to persuade the court that you should maintain your licence. However, it is not enough, for example, to say that losing your job would cause you ‘exceptional hardship’. The court will argue that you were well aware of the threat to your licence – and therefore to your job – when you were totting up points. You must be able to show that losing your licence would have a profound effect on other people, such as ill relatives that depend on you (and your car) to take them to important hospital appointments etc.

When the length of your ban from driving is up – whether it be 6 months, 12 months or even 2 years – your licence will be returned to you and the slate is wiped clean, meaning that all previous points will have been removed.

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