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How Many Points Can I Have on a Provisional Licence?

how many points can i have on my provisional licence before passing my driving test?

 

One of the common questions that we are asked is how many points a person can have on their provisional licence before they pass their driving test.

 

This can be a difficult area of motoring law to understand and it is not as straightforward as people may imagine.  Penalty points for provisional drivers is a confusing area of law, best left to the experts such as motoring specialists Forrest Williams, to examine and explain.

 

As a new driver, within the first two years of passing your test, your licence will be revoked if you accumulate 6 or more penalty points.  This revocation means that you will revert to being a learner driver, and you will have to resit your driving test.

 

However, as a provisional driver, you may accumulate more than 6 points and still obtain a full driving licence whilst these are on your licence.

 

If you pass your driving test with 3 or more points on your licence already, any further points within the active penalty point period of 3 years from dates of offence will cause your licence to be revoked.  This means that you could be given 6 penalty points as a learner driver, pass your driving test, and continue to drive despite having these points active on your licence.

 

Any further points within the active time period will cause your licence to be revoked.

 

It is also worth noting that it is possible to be disqualified from driving before you have passed your driving test.  If a provisional driver has 12 points or more endorsed on their licence within the active time period, the usual totting up provisions will apply and a 6 month disqualification will be issued.

 

The answer, then, to the question of how many penalty points a provisional driver may obtain before passing their test, is a maximum of 11 penalty points.  Anything higher than this will lead to a totting up disqualification as soon as the threshold of 12 points is reached or exceeded.

 

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Motoring Solicitors advise on totting up ban and New Drivers

Totting up Disqualification and New Drivers

Had a very interesting chat with a client yesterday that had an issue with her driving licence she was a new driver (very new in fact just passed the day before :-)).

She wanted to know the difference between being disqualified for having 12 points and the new driver provisions – not that she had reached 12 points!

I was going to send her a lengthy reply but it was late at night and it occurred to me that it would be a good idea for a blog ;-).

So….

The law relating to new drivers (Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995) states that newly qualified drivers within 2 years of passing their test are liable to have their full licence entitlement taken away if they amass 6 or more points during that period. If you get 6 points in total within 2 years after passing your test then your licence will be revoked. This is not a court action but is done by the DVLA. So if a new driver is found guilty of driving without insurance his licence is automatically revoked because driving without insurance carried 6-8 points. If you get 2 speeding tickets, minimum of 3 points on each so you have your licence revoked.

Untitled-2What happens if you have 3 points on your licence before you pass your test? If you then get convicted of any motoring offence that carries penalty points you will get a minimum of 3 points (at the moment – this will change shortly) that will take it to 6 on your licence and even though 3 were before you passed your test your licence will still be revoked.

If you have 6 points before you pass your test you licence isn’t revoke as soon as you pass your test! but any offence with penalty points after that and it’s back to L plates and your dad having to sit next to you when you drive 😉

The totting up provisions apply to both new and old drivers. If you get 12 points within a 3 year period the court must disqualify you for 6 months unless there are exceptional reasons not to (this is something I specialise in so if you find yourself on 9 points and get another summons give me a call and we will see if I can keep your licence).

The difference between a disqualification and a revocation is that under a disqualification you cannot drive at all for 6 months but you do not have to take a re-test. A revocation means that you go back to being a learner driver, have L plates, a supervising driver and have to re-take your test.

The penalties for breaching these differ too, if you drive whilst you are disqualified then you can go to prison and people often do, if you do it twice then it’s pretty certain you will be walking around in a blue uniform and queueing up for your meals for a couple of months. If you drive whilst your licence is revoked then you commit the offence of driving otherwise in accordance with a licence which is not imprisonable but does carry 3-6 points so you could find yourself banned for getting 12 points.

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