Driving licence penalty points put 80,000 drivers at risk

Newly-released driving licence data shows that 80,855 driving licences have nine points – three away from a totting-up ban if incurred within three years.

Altogether, 2.7 million motorists in England, Scotland and Wales currently have three or more points on their licences.

Meanwhile, driving licences held by more than 11,000 drivers have 12 or more points on them. However, that does not automatically mean the driver is disqualified. They may have served a court sentence for their driving offences and subsequently reapplied for their licence.

The highest number of points on a UK driving licence in March 2019 was 60.

The analysis of DVLA licensing data by fleet fuel, mileage data and preventative road risk management company, TMC, also found marked regional variations in the proportion of drivers receiving licence points.

Yorkshire and the Humber is the most-endorsed region in the UK mainland, with points on almost 9% of licences.

At the other end of the scale, motorists in Greater London proportionately clock up the fewest points, with only 5.3% not holding a clean licence, while drivers in West Yorkshire are more than twice as likely to receive penalty points as those living in Kent.

Paul Hollick, managing director of TMC, said: “The chances of a working driver having points on their licence are noticeably higher than suggested by the raw statistics.

“Business drivers are often out on the road every working day whereas the apparent number of clean licences is boosted by many thousands of people who don’t drive, or live abroad or have even died but remain in the data.

“That is why it is imperative for employers to check working drivers’ licences to ensure they are valid and to identify staff at risk of a totting-up ban.

“Electronic checks by an accredited licence-checking firm take a few seconds and should not cost the employer more than £2.50 per driver per year. It’s a small price to pay to mitigate the risks.”

Regionally, Halifax and its surrounding district in West Yorkshire was home to the highest proportion of licences carrying penalty points. One licence-holder in 10 there had received points. Of those, one in eight had nine points on their licence.

The cleanest licences on the UK mainland were in the area of Kent around Canterbury, where only one licence holder in every 250 had received points and just 273 out of 317,000 drivers in the area had accumulated nine points.

The UK’s 10 proportionally most-endorsed postcode areas