Totting up Penalty Points Ban
Totting Up Bans
A driving licence penalty point ban is often called a totting up ban and is where, under Section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act you are disqualified from driving for accumulating 12 points on your licence within a 3 year period.
The 3 year period is measured from the date of the offences, not the date of conviction or sentencing. If you amass twelve points, you are liable for a six month disqualification.
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More about Totting Up Defences
Three Ways to Avoid a Totting/Driving Ban
There are three ways you can defend a totting ban once you have twelve points. You can either;
1. defend the allegation made against you
2. argue Special Reasons in order to persuade the court not to give you points on your licence
3. use an Exceptional Hardship defence.
There isn’t a precise definition of what exactly amounts to Exceptional Hardship. Magistrates are instructed that they need to find that in your circumstances, a 6 month ban would cause exceptional hardship if it were imposed.
The Magistrates can agree not to disqualify you when dealing with your case if they find exception hardship. Alternatively, they can also impose a reduced ban.
You are only permitted to use the same exceptional hardship argument once every 3 years.
To make a valid hardship argument you will need to give your evidence under oath as well as providing documentary evidence to support your argument.
The Court Clerk will enter your grounds into the Court Register. This provides a record to the Court so that your defence can’t be used again for the next 36 months.
How to Appeal a Driving Ban
While there is no set exceptional hardship definition, Magistrates usually look at the impact of a ban on those who rely upon you.
Because you have accumulated 12 points within a 3 year period, they will probably form the opinion that you deserve to be punished, and that your punishment will inevitably involve some hardship on your part.
Normally magistrates are more inclined to consider the impact that your driving ban is going to have on people who rely upon you because those people haven’t themselves committed an offence.
Our latest success rates for totting up bans;
90% of our clients avoid a totting ban when we represent them.
39% of people who represent themselves avoid a totting ban.
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A new client came to us after being banned by the Magistrates for 6 months. He had accumulated 12 points within 3 years and the Magistrates court banned him for 6 months. The client tried to argue exceptional hardship on his own and the court rejected his argument.
Our client instructed us to represent him at court when he was charged with overloading a hired minibus. He had hired the minibus as he had his extended family visiting for a holiday. At the same time builders were refurbishing his house and asked him if he could help them collect some extra sand and cement. Our client agreed and they went with him to the DIY shop to collect the materials.
Our client was stopped on the way back home for overloading. He was devasted by the charge and the subsequent court proceedings, due to the fact that it was an innocent mistake and he was in the process of applying for an indefinite leave to remain in the UK visa.
He approached many so called motoring lawyers before us who told him to plead guilty and take the fine and points. We acted on his behalf and made a special reasons argument and also an argument under s.48 RTOA 88. The court agreed not to give any points and to impose an absolute discharge meaning that the conviction was imediately spent.
At Patterson Law we think outside of the box and we go the extra mile to try and achieve the results you need. Contact us now on 01626 359800 or email e.patterson@pattersonlaw.co.uk if you want lawyers who represent an island of excellence in a sea of mediocrity!
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