Under the so-called “totting up” rules, should you get 12 or more penalty points on your driving licence within a 3-year period, you will be given a mandatory driving disqualification of at least six months. The disqualification period may be longer in certain circumstances, for example, where previous disqualifications are taken into account.
For many of us, driving forms an essential part of our daily lives. Driving the children to school, driving yourself to work, doing the weekly shop: like it or not, we spend a lot of time sitting behind the steering wheel. If you live in an area not well served by public transport, you may find it hard to imagine life without your car. You depend on it, and friends and family members may rely heavily on you to ferry them around. Even the minimum 6-month disqualification can have serious consequences, and your day-to-day life will be significantly affected.
One way to avoid this mandatory disqualification or perhaps have the period reduced, is to use what is called an exceptional hardship argument. You must demonstrate to the court that the driving ban will create truly exceptional and disproportionate hardship for you and/or others who are dependent on you.
A driving disqualification is intended as a deterrent to poor driving, and as such, it is supposed to create some degree of hardship. For the exceptional hardship argument to be effective, you must prove that the hardship you will suffer is truly exceptional, and not a mere inconvenience.
A driving ban is intended to punish an offender for poor driving, and not to create serious hardship for innocent parties. If the court is presented with compelling evidence that innocent parties will be seriously and adversely affected by the driving ban, then the exceptional hardship argument is more likely to succeed.
Exceptional hardship arguments need a lot of careful thought and preparation, and clear, unambiguous evidence should be presented to the court to support your argument. For example, you may have a disabled child who relies on you for transport to essential therapy appointments. Even in this case, however, you would need to show that there is no one else who is realistically able to provide the transport. Medical evidence of the child’s disability or condition should be presented to the court, together with evidence of the appointments the child must attend.
You may yourself have a disability, and losing your car would have a huge impact on your everyday life, for example by restricting your mobility.
Losing the ability to drive can lead to job loss. This can have a huge impact on the driver and the driver’s family. Imagine a scenario where a series of relatively minor driving offences tots up to 12 points, leading to a driving ban, which in turn causes loss of job, income, and possibly homelessness. In such cases, it could be argued that the hardship suffered is disproportionate to the seriousness of the offences committed.
Once again, though, evidence is the key. It is not sufficient to say that you may lose your job because you need to drive to the office every day. Perhaps you could get lifts with a colleague, or use public transport. Perhaps your boss will allow you to work remotely for a few months. If, on the other hand, your job itself involves a significant amount of driving, for example if you are a bus driver, or a community nurse who uses a car for home visits to patients, then a driving ban will likely terminate your employment.
It is all about quality evidence. Evidence from your employer, showing that the driving disqualification would make it impossible for you to continue your employment, would carry some serious weight. Again, emphasize the effect of job loss on your innocent family members, who could also lose their home as a result of the disqualification. Statements from others who would be affected could be useful.
We can often avoid the totting up points by persuading the prosecution to accept an offence with fewer points thus avoid totting up altogether or persuade the court to impose a short disqualification for the offence itself which avoid points and there totting up. This will then leave the exceptional hardship argument for the next time. However, you cannot use the same argument within a 3 year period
If you are considering using the exceptional hardship argument, it is essential to get expert advice from qualified solicitors who know what evidence you need and how to present your argument effectively to the court. At Auriga Advocates, we have experience of cases where exceptional hardship has been successfully argued and we are well placed to guide you through the process of evidence gathering and help you put your case together.