A female driver, with a staggering 42 points on her licence for driving offences, remains on Britain’s roads according to a fresh analysis of DVLA figures.
The woman, understood to be from Isleworth, west London, accumulated the points haul in 2012 after failing to disclose the identity of the person driving the vehicle.
Under current motoring laws, drivers can be banned from the roads for amassing 12 points or more over a three-year duration. However, judges can use their discretion should they feel that a driving ban would cause ‘exceptional hardship’, for example: loss of employment or impeding a parent from being able to care for a child.
According to the research, compiled by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), 36 points stands as the second-highest total accumulated by an unnamed motorist.
It is understood though that the 36 point total is attributed to a male driver based in Warrington and was caught operating a motor vehicle, without insurance, on six occasions between February and March 2012.
Other notable offenders included in the IAM research were:
* A man from Southend with 30 points, who was caught speeding 10 times between March 2011 and August 2012
* A man from Blackburn with 29 points, who was caught speeding eight times between September and November 2011
* A man from Pevensey, East Sussex, with 24 points who was caught speeding six times in two weeks between September 30 and October 13 last year
In a statement from Simon Best, Chief Executive of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, he said: “The examples show the system is not working properly. Drivers must expect that 12 points means a ban or the whole system falls into disrepute. DVLA and the courts service are upgrading their computer systems to ensure that offence information is shared more efficiently, but this is not due to be in place until October 2013.â€
He added: “When drivers with 10 speeding offences are getting away with holding a licence, these improvements cannot come quickly enough.â€
In a statement from a Courts & Tribunals Service spokesperson, they said: “The ‘vast majority’ of drivers with 12 points are banned. Only a very small number of cases are affected by the data-sharing issue and we are working closely with DVLA to improve this.â€
Tags: Car Legislation, Driving Fines, Driving Laws, Driving Legislation, Driving Penalties, Driving Penalty Points, UK Driving Laws