News - Totting Up

A totting up ban is a mandatory driving disqualification in the UK. It is triggered when a driver accumulates 12 or more penalty points within a three-year period. The standard disqualification period for a first-time totting up ban starts at Read more...

A 38-year-old man from Monkton was sentenced at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on July 26 for a speeding offence committed in December. He had pleaded guilty to the offence on July 6. The offence left the defendant with 12 points on Read more...

A 19-year-old man was sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court on July 17 following convictions for driving without due care and attention and driving without third-party insurance. The court at the trial heard that, at around 4pm on August 9, 2025, Read more...

Coastguard operational manager James Patton has been handed a driving ban in spite of his attempt to make an exceptional hardship argument. Appearing at the Isle of Wight Magistrates’ Court, Patton was found guilty of driving without insurance, and was Read more...

TV presenter and racing star Guy Martin has been given a mandatory six-month driving disqualification after being caught speeding in two separate incidents. Martin is perhaps best known as the presenter of popular TV show, Speed with Guy Martin. Before Read more...

Barney Walsh, co-presenter of the BBC’s ‘Gladiators’ reboot alongside his father, Bradley Walsh, has fallen foul of totting up rules after breaking a temporary speed limit on the M4. Walsh did not appear in Romford Magistrates’ Court in person, but Read more...

A former soldier is set to face a driving ban after previously being spared of such a punishment due to an exceptional hardship argument. On March 10 at The Isle of Wight Magistrates’ Court, Tom Engelgardt was warned that he Read more...

It’s a common query from drivers in the UK: If you have accumulated a few penalty points on your licence, how many would it take to mean you are facing a ban? The penalty point system is intended to be Read more...

Steve MacNamara, General Secretary of the Licenced Taxi Drivers’ Association, has expressed concern about the increase in the number of taxi drivers being disqualified under totting up rules. He believes this sharp rise has been brought about by the introduction Read more...

Singer Richard Ashcroft, the former frontman of The Verve, has received a six-month driving prohibition from Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court. Ashcroft pleaded guilty to speeding on a 40mph section of the M4 in Brentford, between junctions 2 and 3. The Read more...

Appearing in the last week of December at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court, 64-year-old Colin Salmon narrowly avoided a six-month driving ban. On 31 March 2025, Salmon, who has a recurring role in Eastenders and has appeared in three James Bond Read more...

At a sentencing hearing in Caernarfon Magistrates’ Court on December 9, a tractor driver escaped the mandatory 6-month driving ban after the court accepted an exceptional hardship argument. On October 19, 2024, at around 7:30pm, a police officer spotted Matthew Read more...