Some of Britain’s worst drivers are still on the road - despite numerous convictions.
And a shock survey by a driver safety group has revealed that two of the Top 20 bad drivers are from the Huddersfield area.
Both are still driving despite racking up a large number of penalty points on their licences.
One is a man from Brighouse with an astonishing 30 penalty points while the other is a woman from Huddersfield who has amassed 28 penalty points.
Details from The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) shows that a motorist from Lewisham has racked up an astounding 40 points for 12 offences despite never having held a full or even a provisional driving licence, according to information supplied by the DVLA.
His offences include speeding in a 30mph zone and driving without insurance.
The Brighouse man was caught speeding five times in a 30mph zone and twice in a 50mph zone.
The Huddersfield woman twice drove without insurance and exceeded the 50mph speed limit four times.
IAM chief executive Sarah Sillars said: “It’s been three years since the IAM raised this issue with the DVLA, but we still have drivers on the road with multiple points allocated to them. Now we discover that some of them have never held any kind of driving licence. We all have to share the road with these unqualified, uninsured and dangerous drivers.
“We need to punish offenders as well as give them the opportunity to change their ways. Offenders are unlikely to drive legally if they face a ban or points on their licence as soon as they pass their test.”
England and Wales’ highest points holder continues to be a man from Liverpool who holds 45 penalty points on a full driving licence. He collected six penalty points on three separate occasions for speeding in a 30mph zone. And another six points on five other occasions because he failed to provide information about the identity of the driver – he carries the same number points today as he did in 2014.
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Top 20 List of Shame
1. 45 points - Liverpool man - 8 offences including 3 speeding
2. 40 points - Lewisham man - 12 offences including 6 speeding
3. 38 points - Blackburn woman - 10 offences all speeding
4. 36 points - Great Yarmouth man - 15 offences including speeding and no insurance
5. 36 points - Oxford man - 6 offences all of failing to identify driver
6. 36 points - Wales man - 6 offences of no insurance
7. 36points - Wymondham man - 8 offences including 5 no insurance
8. 33 points - Stockport man - 7 offences including speeding and failing to identify driver
9. 33 points - Lincolnshire woman - 8 offences three of speeding and one of ignoring red light
10. 31 points - Hull woman - 6 offences including five speeding
11. 30 points - Brighosue man - 7 offences all speeding
12. 30mpoints - Sheffield man - 9 offences speeding and using mobile phone
13. 30mpoints - Keighley woman - 7 offences - no insurance and failing to identify driver
14. 30mpoints - Guildford woman - 5 offences - failing to identify driver
15. 30 points - Wesgate-o-Sea man - 7 offences - excess alcohol and no insurance
16. 29 points - Cardiff man - 7 offences - speeding and no insurance
17. 29 points - Southampton man - 8 offences speeding and driving while disqualified
18. 28 points - Leeds man - 5 offences - no insurance
19. 28 points - Catford man - 5 offences - no insurance
20. 28 points - Huddersfield woman - 6 offences - speeding and no insurance
Why are some drivers still driving despite racking up penalty points?
There are several possible reasons.
You can plead ‘Exceptional hardship’ and accepting such a plea is at the magistrate’s discretion. It is possible to make multiple hardship pleas in different court areas as information is not often passed between courts. You can’t use the same excuse twice and the courts are supposed to call the first court to see previous excuse, but don’t necessarily check back beyond that.
Magistrates like to see people in front of them when they plan to disqualify them but the points are still allocated if they don’t show up.
In 2013 there were 103,383 drivers disqualified in total. 12,470 drivers had 12+ points with 7,842 not actually disqualified.
Court relations are improving with a new DVLA Manager employed purely to liaise with the Court system. Specific courts who are poor at banning or sharing records will be named and shamed. The courts claim that reduced training and high staff turn overs can lead to admin issues.
In many instances the most common offences are multiple MS90 codes – not identifying the driver after an offence – the Ministry of Justice is looking to tighten this up.
Some of the cases show that offences were committed in a very short time – eg several speeding offences in the space of a month. Delays in processing speeding tickets, providing evidence, getting to court and processing decisions mean that at any one time some drivers may be awaiting a banning decision whilst still amassing points.
The DVLA point out that in some cases an offender may have served a short prison sentence or community order and then returned to driving but with many points still ‘valid’ on the licence. Points have a validity under legislation unless cleared under totting up.
