tougher guidelines have been announced for sentencing motorists who accrue 12 or a lot more penalty points on their licence, making it harder for them to avoid a driving ban even if that results in a loss of employment.
Following a lengthy consultation, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales – a public body made up of judges and legal experts reporting to the Ministry of Justice – has made a decision that loss of employment is an “inevitable consequence” of a driving ban for lots of motorists, and does not automatically excuse them.
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The consultation was launched due to worries that too lots of motorists who accrue 12 or a lot more points were claiming ‘exceptional hardship’ in court in buy to avoid a ‘totting up’ disqualification from being handed out.
The Sentencing Council has now ruled that loss of employment following disqualification is not in itself sufficient to demonstrate extraordinary hardship, adding that it depends on the individual scenarios of the offender, as well as what the consequences of them losing their job would be on both them and other people.
It added that courts must be “cautious” before accepting extraordinary hardship claims without evidence that alternative indicates of carry are not viable for the offender. The Council pointed out that all driving bans entail some form of hardship, which forms part of the deterrent against breaking the law.
Motorists who receive 12 or a lot more penalty points and have no previous disqualifications are indicated to receive a minimum driving ban of six months, under the Sentencing Council’s guidelines.
Those who have one previous ban that was handed out within the previous three years and lasted at least 56 days must receive a minimum disqualification of one year, while those with a lot more than one previous disqualification of this type must be banned for at least two years.
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An automobile express investigation in April 2020 found that there were 9,349 motorists on UK roads at the time who had accrued 12 or a lot more penalty points but had not been disqualified from driving.

Read our post on how to appeal a speeding ticket fine here…