Points on your Driving License.

If you have received a penalty (endorsement) on your licence the points will stay on your licence for four or eleven years, depending on what offence you have committed, should you receive in excess of 11 points over a period of three years you can have your licence suspended and/or face prosecution.

Points stay on your licence for the period mentioned but in the last 12 months will not count towards any totting up of points, they are deemed as inactive.

For any driving penalty endorsement the government has set out a table of offences and given each offence a code, it shows how many points each offence awards and how long it will stay on your licence. If your offence is related to an accident the points awarded will stay on for between four and eleven years and has a range of points that can be awarded.

For example code AC20 relates to not giving particulars or reporting an accident within 24 hours, for this you can receive between 5 and 10 points on your license.

As a disqualified driver driving, 6 points will be endorsed and stay on your licence for 4 years.

Careless driving points can be between 3 and 11 depending on the offence and stay between 4 and 11 years.

If you are being prosecuted for a motoring offence we recommend you contact a solicitor for advice and details of the possible punishment.

There are the standard offences that are commonplace, for example speeding or having a fault on your car you will normally be awarded 3 to 6 points for speeding, most of the offences to do with the condition of your car carry a 3 point endorsement, as do points awarded for the way you are driving, not stopping at a stop sign, or traffic lights for example.

As mentioned the length the points stay on your licence will depend upon the offence, but with each offence the period the points are on your license will start either from the date of the offence, or the date of the prosecution, if in doubt check.

Rules for new drivers (passed test in the last two years)

The rules for new drivers are different, if you receive 6 or more points your licence will be taken away and if that happens, you will have to start again; apply for a provisional licence and take all parts of the driving test again.

What do you need to do if you receive an endorsement?

You will need to hand over your Licence to the judicial authorities for endorsement, the driving licence may be sent away to the DVLA if the details have changed or its damaged, but it should be returned to you in no later than 3 weeks.
What you need to do to remove points from your licence

Once the lime limit has elapsed the points will no longer be valid, but you may wish to have them visibly removed from your licence, if you do you will need to apply for a new licence, you can download the application forms from the DVLA web site or through the post office, you should receive your clean licence no later than three weeks from application.

If you have any Questions about your licence contact the DVLA

DVLA customer enquiries Telephone: 0300 790 6801