86 Years Old: Oldest Driver in Britain to Receive a Ban

86-year-old mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Norah Lawley, recently became the oldest person in Britain ever to receive a driving ban. It came about after she was caught driving over the speed limit for the fifth time. She had been travelling at 43mph in a 30mph zone and was caught in exactly the same place that she had been for two of her other speeding offences. The three cases of driving above the speed limit meant that Norah totted up a total of more than 12 points on her license, resulting in a ban of six months.

Mrs Lawley said, “I don’t want everybody to know about it” and that she was ‘ashamed’ about the whole situation.

The judge endorsed Lawley’s licence with four additional penalty points, resulting in a total of 13, and fined her £200 and ordered her to pay a £20 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

Norah Lawley was also, unusually, ordered to re-take her driving test after she has completed her ban.

The retired primary school teacher said: “My main concern is how I get about for the next six months because I like to go to church and sing in the choir.

“Luckily I have lots of friends and family who have kindly offered to give me lifts but I am used to being independent and I don’t really like the idea of being a burden on anyone.

“I fully intend to retake my driving test after the ban and get back on the road as soon as possible.”

Katie Forrest of Forrest Williams Solicitors said –

“The only way that you can avoid a disqualification once you reach 12 points is to satisfy the court that you, or others, would suffer from exceptional hardship. This can include such things as loss of job or if someone else with poor health relies on your driving for their mobility.

If you need further information on the position when you reach 12 points see our Totting Up page.

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We are grateful to Alex Moore, who recently joined us for work experience, for this blog post.