Carry on driving! 39 penalty points on licence, but NO BAN for motorist

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated: 03:55 EST, 11 May 2011

39 points: Motorist is likely to have got the points for a variety of offences - including speeding

Road safety campaigners last night called for urgent action after it emerged a motorist is still behind the wheel despite amassing 39 penalty points, the most in Britain.

They insisted it was ‘completely unacceptable’ for anyone to rack up more than three times the number of points that would usually lead to an automatic ban.

The shock statistic about the driver, from Swindon, emerged in a Freedom of Information request from BBC West to the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Twelve points usually means a six months ban for a driver unless they can prove it would cause exceptional hardship.

A court decides if a driver is banned or has special reasons to be allowed to stay behind the wheel.

Kath Hartley, from road safety charity Brake, called for all drivers with more than 12 points on their licence to be kept off the roads.

She said: ‘It’s completely unacceptable people are clocking up to 39 points on their licence.

‘It is crucial driving bans are issued when a driver receives 12 points on their licence, in all but very exceptional cases.

‘Any driver that exceeds this has shown they repeatedly break the law and are a hazard to other road users.

‘A ban acts as a punishment, allowing the driver time to reflect and also protecting other road users who would be at risk if a driver like this was allowed to continue driving unabated.’

According to the DVLA, courts can exercise discretion and not disqualify in a ‘small percentage of cases where a driver has accumulated 12 or more points’.

A driver with 12 points can argue disqualification would cause exceptional hardship – either financial or personal.

If the court finds the hardship argument applies, but the driver then accrues further penalty points within three years, the same exceptional circumstances cannot be cited again.

The DVLA refused to reveal what offences the 39 penalty points related to.

But Elliot Griffiths, of the Magistrates’ Association, admitted there was ‘something wrong’.

He said: ‘I can’t conceive how somebody can have 20, 30, 40 points and not be disqualified. I can’t work it out. I’d be very interested to see how it happened.’