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Keith Beeson Keith Beeson Transport Lutterworth, Leics Your are correct
Page 42
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that the new Road Safety Act will include new fixed-penalty offences and in some cases change the way penalty points are imposed. This legislation is currently open to consultation and we expect it to be introduced either late this year or early next.
However, a sliding scale already exists for some offences including speeding. Many people think that speeding only carries three penalty points but drivers should be aware this is actually the minimum. lithe police think three points are not appropriate forthe speed travelled they can choose not to impose a fixed penalty but referthe matterto court where magistrates can impose a ban or up to six points.
Any offence that carries punishment by penalty points also allows a magistrate's court to impose a disqualification.
For minor offences most people only face disqualification when they accumulate 12 or more penalty points on their driving licence. in these circumstances the law says the driver must be banned fora minimum al six months (or 12 months if this is the second time the driver has accumulated 12 points in quick succession).
But the magistrates have the discretion to impose a ban of less than six months or not impose a ban at all if they are satisfied that mitigating circumstances exist. This might he ita ban would cause the driver or some other person undue hardship. Owner-drivers, or any other driverwho needs his licence for his job, can often establish that hardship would be caused by the ban and thus avoid a ban— however, these arguments are not bound to succeed.
Some magistrates believe that as a driver you know the value of your licence and therefore have onlyyourself to blame il you lot up 12 points and face a ban. Indeed, in Scotland the law suggests that a LGV driver losing his licence, and thus his livelihood, does not count as exceptional hardship and therefore is not grounds for avoiding the ban.