Motorist with 42 points still driving
Driver racked up penalties in just over six months but continued to drive despite 12-point cut-off.
A female driver from Isleworth, London, managed to clock up 42 points on her driving licence in just over six months in 2012, but was still allowed to drive, according to the Institute of Advanced Motorists.
The motorist managed to rack up the total from May to December last year, data from the DVLA showed. The penalties were gained on seven different occasions with six points each time due to failure to give information as to identity of driver.
Drivers normally face a ban for collating 12 points over three years. However this driver was allowed to continue to drive. And she wasn’t the only one as the figures revealed the top 20-licence points holder.
Second on the list was a male driver from Warrington, Cheshire, who managed to get a total of 36 points, all for driving without insurance. And a man from Southend, Essex, was caught speeding 10 times between March 2011 and August 2012.
IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “The IAM has no sympathy for owners who refuse to reveal the identity of the driver, and we would welcome an urgent consultation on new ways to deal with this problem. Drivers must expect that 12 points means a ban or the whole system falls into disrepute.”
The HM Courts and Tribunals Service explained that the reason for the drivers not getting bans was a mixture of judges discretion and data sharing issue with the DVLA.
“Magistrates can use their discretion to not enforce a driving ban if doing so would cause exceptional hardship, such as losing a job or the ability to care for a dependent. A fine will still be enforced,” a spokesman explained.
"Only a very small number of cases are affected by the data sharing issue and we are working closely with DVLA to improve this."
