Whenever a driver is convicted of an endorsable road traffic offence the court has the power to impose either a disqualification or penalty points.
An endorsable driving offence is one where a note is made on the driver's DVLA record.
As an example, consider the case of a driver who admits speeding at 45 mph in a 30 mph zone. The Sentencing Guidelines indicate a suitable penalty of a Band B fine (e.g. 75 - 125% of the offender's relevant weekly income) plus a disqualification of 7 to 28 days OR 4 to 6 penalty points. It is a matter entirely for the court whether to impose a disqualification or penalty points, depending on the circumstances of the offence.
If the offender had a good driving record, and in the absence of aggravating factors, it would probably be more appropriate to impose penalty points instead of a disqualification. If, however, the offender had a poor driving record, or there were significant aggravating factors, then it might be more appropriate to impose a disqualification instead of penalty points.
The court should be mindful of any active penalty points on the offender's licence at the time of the offence. A driver with 10 penalty points on their licence, who has already demonstrated their disregard for the rules of the road, may well be grateful if the court imposed a 28 day disqualification instead of penalty points. That is because if the driver were to receive 4 to 6 penalty points, as recommended by the sentencing guideline, it would result in their disqualification for a minimum of 6 months under the totting up rule.
Defence advocates will, on occasion, attempt to steer the bench down the avenue of immediate disqualification for that very reason - far better for their client to face a ban of a few weeks instead of 6 months.
Playing the system, I think it's called!
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