The New Drivers Act 1995

The New Drivers Act came into force on June 1st 1997. Each newly qualified driver must go through a probationary period of two years after passing their driving test.

This means that if you accumulate six penalty points or more you will return to non-driver status, having to reapply for your provisional driving licence, theory test and practical test.

How does this apply to provisional licence holders?

As a provisional licence holder you can accumulate up to 12 penalty points before you receive a statutory ban. If you accumulate penalty points on your provisional licence and they are still valid when passing your driving test, they will be carried forward onto your new licence. However, if the total points carried forward are less than six and you accumulate further points to make the total six or more, you will return to non-driver status.

If the total number of points carried forward to your full licence is equal to or more than six, then you do not immediately return to non-driver status. However, you will return to non-driver status if you obtain one more point on your licence.

Endorsements, Disqualifications and Convictions

Disqualifications, convictions and acceptance of fixed penalty payments are notified to the DVLA by the Courts. The details are entered onto the drivers' record and the licence. In addition to paying a fine or fixed penalty, the drivers' licence will be endorsed with a penalty ranging from 3-11 points, or a period of disqualification will be imposed depending on how serious the offence is. Any driver (provisional or full) who accumulates 12 points within a three year period will be automatically disqualified. Both courts and police can obtain information on a drivers' entitlement to drive a vehicle and obtain a record of their endorsements at any time.

It is therefore useless to try and get away from the truth by driving on a falsely obtained duplicate or false licence.

Endorsements remain on your licence for either:

11 years from date of conviction for Drinking/drugs DR10, 20, 30, 80.

4 years from date of conviction for causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs, offences resulting in a driving ban or driving whilst disqualified CD40, 50, 60, 70.

All other offences remain valid for 4 years from the date of offence.

An automatic disqualification is imposed if you accumulate 12 or more points in a three year period, yet all endorsements last for a minimum of 4 years.

The automatic ban is imposed if the points tot up to 12 or more in any given three year period. If you may have more than 12 valid points on your licence a more severe penalty or a discretionary ban may be imposed.

Since the introduction of the New Drivers Act on 1st June 1997, there have been 30,999 licence revocations. Of these, 26,319 (84.9%) belonged to drivers aged 17-25.

Remember if you are old enough to drive a car, be mature enough to be responsible for the car. Stay on the road. Drive carefully and sensibly.