Totting Up Ban & Exceptional Hardship Solicitor Birmingham

Under section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, a court must disqualify a driver who has accumulated 12 or more penalty points within a period of 3 years. The minimum disqualification period is 6 months. If the driver has been disqualified for 56 days or more within the previous 3 years, the minimum rises to 12 months. If disqualified twice in that period, the minimum is 2 years.

The 12-point threshold is reached at the point of conviction for the most recent offence. It is not reached at the point of receiving the fixed penalty notice or NIP. Points from previous convictions within the 3-year window all count. Common routes to 12 points include three or four speeding offences, a combination of speeding and mobile phone offences, or two or more careless driving or failing to provide driver details convictions.

The court has discretion under section 35(1) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 not to disqualify — or to impose a shorter period of disqualification — where it is satisfied that there are grounds for mitigating the normal consequences of the conviction. The most commonly argued ground is exceptional hardship.

Exceptional hardship must go beyond the ordinary inconvenience of a driving ban, which is itself intended as a penalty. The courts have made clear that loss of employment alone does not normally constitute exceptional hardship. However, the consequences of loss of employment for the defendant and for innocent third parties — particularly dependants — can amount to exceptional hardship. Relevant factors include: the effect on a sole carer for a disabled or elderly relative; the effect on employees who would lose their jobs if a small business cannot operate; the effect on family members dependent on the defendant’s income; and the need to drive for urgent medical treatment.

The argument must be supported by specific evidence. Bare assertions are rarely sufficient. David takes detailed instructions and prepares supporting evidence — witness statements, financial documents, medical reports where relevant — to put before the court at the exceptional hardship hearing.

An exceptional hardship application is heard at the magistrates’ court. The defendant may give evidence and call witnesses. The prosecution may cross-examine. The magistrates then decide whether exceptional hardship has been established and, if so, whether to disqualify at all or to impose a shorter period of disqualification.

David Roy appears regularly at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court for exceptional hardship hearings. He prepares each application carefully, identifies the relevant evidence, and presents the case clearly to the bench. Where an exceptional hardship argument has been made previously, the court will expect the circumstances to have changed before it will hear another one.

Birmingham Magistrates’ Court sits at the Victoria Law Courts, Corporation Street, Birmingham B4 6QA. David Roy has been appearing at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court since 1988 and is familiar with its procedures and listing practices. Totting up cases are often listed at short notice. David can advise and prepare an exceptional hardship application at short notice where needed.