What are penalty points?
The Highway Code helps maintain road safety. The DVLA uses it to set rules for road users like drivers and pedestrians to follow.
Whenever a driving law is broken, the driver gets fined and penalty points, also known as endorsem*nts, added to their licence. The fine is in addition to the penalty points, so you can’t pay to get points removed from your licence. You can get anything between three to eleven points on your licence each time you break the rules of the road. These points keep adding up on your licence - if you get 12 or more points within the span of three years, you can get disqualified from driving. In some cases, passengers can also get penalty points if they’ve helped or incited the driver to commit a motoring offence.
How long do penalty points stay on your licence?
Penalty points stay on your licence for either four or eleven years – depending upon the offence you committed. Once penalty points expire, they’re automatically removed from your driving licence.
In some rare cases, your licence can be disqualified immediately as well - for example, if you’re caught speeding or when driving whilst unfit.
How to check points on your licence
You can use DVLA’s check code service where they store all your driving licence information online. This includes information about any offences committed and penalty points you’ve got on your driving licence.
The DVLA check code gives you a summary of the offences, including the date of conviction, expiry date, details of the offence and the court location. If you want to know more about the driving offence, each offence has a special code assigned to it which tells you what you’re being charged for. For example, the code for speeding in a passenger vehicle is SP40; the code for disobeying the traffic signals is TS10. You can find the full list of offences and their codes on gov.uk (external site).
How long does a disqualification stay on your licence?
Once you get 12 or more penalty points on your licence, your licence can be disqualified.
If this is your first driving ban, you’ll be disqualified for six months. If this is your second ban, you’ll be banned for one year and if it’s your third time being banned, you’ll be disqualified for three years.
Do penalty points affect your car insurance?
In most cases, having penalty points on your driving licence will have a negative effect on your car insurance. The effect on your car insurance will depend upon the number of driving offences and penalty points you have. Usually, you can expect to pay higher premiums on your car insurance. In the worst-case scenario, insurance providers may completely reject to cover your car insurance.
Learn more about road safety and how to be better driver.If you’re a beginner driver, you can learn more about driving and car ownership in our advice section or look at our selection of cars for new drivers.
