This is very old story, and all links are now dead and so removed.
Another (yawn!) FOI request by the Daily Mail reveals that there are over 10,000 motorists in the UK who have more than 12 points on their licences, and yet have not been banned. Offences include drink-driving, speeding, and jumping red lights.
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but one of my ex-pupils (she passed her test last year) needed to learn to drive. Her mother suffered from bipolar disorder, and there was evidence that the daughter had also got the same condition. Her father had stopped to help someone at an accident (he wasn’t involved) and he was breathalysed and found to be over the limit – not by a huge amount, but over. He was the manager of a post office and had to be able to drive to get to work.
When his case went to court they banned him. It was virtually automatic.
It appears from this FOI request that there is someone driving around in Bradford who currently has 32 points and is not banned.
It seems that 40% of drivers who reach 12 points seem to manage to hold on to their licences. The Mail cites a specific case:
Courts can impose sentences short of a ban where a disqualification would cause a defendant, or others who depend on them, ‘exceptional hardship’.
his defence has been used by celebrities. For example, in 2008 former England and Liverpool footballer John Barnes escaped a ban for driving without insurance in his £60,000 BMW X5 by claiming it would cause him ‘exceptional hardship’.
He already had nine points on his licence and a six-point penalty would have taken him over the 12-point limit. Barnes, who raked in millions during his 20-year career on the pitch and still earned £4,000 a week, told magistrates he was too hard up to employ a driver.
He said a driving ban would mean he would be unable to carry out his job as manager of the Jamaican national team because he could not be expected to rely on public transport to watch matches.
He wasn’t banned because he was John Barnes. Personally, I think that that in itself should have led to a prison sentence.
The law is an ass. Administered by assholes.