Points on your driving licence...?

[Peepo]

As this section is a section for us to say little snippets we know.
Here is 1 I know that most people I meet dont.

Points on your driving licence for speeding are only valid for 3 years.
They leave them written on there an extra year as a way of shaming you, but they arent valid.
Even on DVLA website it sais 4 years. But doesnt tell you the ins & outs.
I hate scaremongrering government.
Just tell us the truth!

[dave]

I must confess - I always thought it was 3 years, then got confused by the properganda and thought that I must be wrong.

Thanks for pointing me back in the right direction

[dw190]

Originally Posted by Peepo

As this section is a section for us to say little snippets we know.
Here is 1 I know that most people I meet dont.

Points on your driving licence for speeding are only valid for 3 years.
They leave them written on there an extra year as a way of shaming you, but they arent valid.
Even on DVLA website it sais 4 years. But doesnt tell you the ins & outs.
I hate scaremongrering government.
Just tell us the truth!

The reason points remain on your licence for four years is to assist the court system.

Points are valid from the date of the offence. So as an example if points were for an offence on the 1/1/03 and you committed another offence on the 26/12/05, points for both offences would be added under the totting up process. However, you may not be convicted of the latter offence till 6/6/06 by which time you could have applied for a replacement licence and had the earlier points removed.

Although they remain on your licence for four years, they are only valid for three in the totting up process.

Some insurers penalise for points for a period of five years.

[jonni2bad]

Originally Posted by dw190

Some insurers penalise for points for a period of five years.

And that's the most annoying thing, for me. Surely if a court issues a punishment for a set period, it can't be right that another organisation can punish you beyond that?


Gggrrrrrrr

[BotB]

Points are valid from the date of the offence.

Agreed. But for some more serious offences its the date of conviction - can't remember offhand without looking at the DVLA website but I think its offences where there's a disqualification. As pointed out, there could be several months difference in when the points go on your licence depending whether its from the date of the offence or the date of conviction.

[dw190]

Originally Posted by BotB

Agreed. But for some more serious offences its the date of conviction - can't remember offhand without looking at the DVLA website but I think its offences where there's a disqualification. As pointed out, there could be several months difference in when the points go on your licence depending whether its from the date of the offence or the date of conviction.

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/endorsem.htm

[dw190]

Originally Posted by jonni2bad

And that's the most annoying thing, for me. Surely if a court issues a punishment for a set period, it can't be right that another organisation can punish you beyond that?


Gggrrrrrrr

Criminal Offences (Spent Convictions)

Disclosure Period I think is Seven Years

[seylectric]

The insurance aspect really annoys me. If you have been caught speeding let's say and have three points on your licence surely, unless you are a complete prat, going to drive more carefully in future? If this is true there is surely a case for your insurance premium to be reduced?

If you got a further three points then that, they could then argue, would indicate carelessness at best and reason to up your premium but if you have been caught and fined by the police I don't see why the insurance companies should be allowed to penalise you further for a first offence.

It's just profiteering, how about if you don't have an accident that was your fault this year you get all your money back? It would whack up the premiums of those who did have accidents and were to blame, but I don't see why I should subsidise those drivers.

The bottom line is I don't see why they should profit from what is a legal requirement anyway, it's wrong.

[StoneLaughter]

Originally Posted by dw190

Criminal Offences (Spent Convictions)

Disclosure Period I think is Seven Years

How is that relevant? Speeding is not a criminal offence...?

[sean5302]

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[seylectric]

Absolutely correct, although I would take little notice of the figures which are mostly just propaganda by the safety people. There are way too many variants for them to be hard facts.

[Bookworm]

Originally Posted by seylectric

The insurance aspect really annoys me. If you have been caught speeding let's say and have three points on your licence surely, unless you are a complete prat, going to drive more carefully in future? If this is true there is surely a case for your insurance premium to be reduced?

If you got a further three points then that, they could then argue, would indicate carelessness at best and reason to up your premium but if you have been caught and fined by the police I don't see why the insurance companies should be allowed to penalise you further for a first offence.

It's just profiteering, how about if you don't have an accident that was your fault this year you get all your money back? It would whack up the premiums of those who did have accidents and were to blame, but I don't see why I should subsidise those drivers.

The bottom line is I don't see why they should profit from what is a legal requirement anyway, it's wrong.

Because it indicates a trend. Speed offenders are seldom 1 time speeders. And I can assure you from past experience at BMW that they'll seldom stay at just the 1 time offence. The number of times I had to organise hire cars for people with max points on their license who would then get really angry the hire car company wouldn't let them have one!!!!Well, duh!

I quite agree with the accident/no claim line though. I used to be a minicab driver for 8 years without a crash, yet, my cab insurance went from £30 a month to £180 (which is the point I had to stop doing a job I loved, as the costs were eating too much in my profits), because I was subsidising all the bad cab drivers out there, which is nearly a tautology.

[dw190]

Originally Posted by StoneLaughter

How is that relevant? Speeding is not a criminal offence...?

Ask Robin Hood. He lives near you.

[StoneLaughter]

Originally Posted by dw190

Ask Robin Hood. He lives near you.

WTH is that meant to mean? You have me completely stumped there...

I was wrong apparently; I could have sworn that motoring offences of a minor nature (e.g. slight speeding, wrong way up a one-way street, etc) were NOT considered to be criminal offences... obviously that was a mistake on my part - my apologies for any confusion caused.

[clairus99]

Originally Posted by Peepo

As this section is a section for us to say little snippets we know.
Here is 1 I know that most people I meet dont.

Points on your driving licence for speeding are only valid for 3 years.
They leave them written on there an extra year as a way of shaming you, but they arent valid.
Even on DVLA website it sais 4 years. But doesnt tell you the ins & outs.
I hate scaremongrering government.
Just tell us the truth!

Without reading the rest of the replies yet (impatience!!), I've just (coincidentally) got an insurance quote; they told me that the points are declarable for 5 years...

[sean5302]

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