Bedford Driving Lessons

A driver with 54 penalty points has been allowed to keep his licence by the courts, it has emerged. The 27-year-old from Teeside is one of more than 11,000 motorists whose licences have not been revoked despite totting up 12 points last year. Of these 10,000 have been let off by the courts, while another 1,000 are still driving because details of the disqualification failed to reach the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The number of motorists still on the road despite accumulating more points than needed for a driving ban were disclosed, as a result of a Freedom of Information inquiry by a Sunday newspaper. Around one driver in four facing disqualification has been shown clemency under the “exceptional hardship” provisions which allow the courts a measure of discretion when considering whether to impose a driving ban. Nick Freeman, the solicitor known as “Mr Loophole”, has made a number of successful applications under these provisions. Last month he persuaded Staines magistrates to suspend a motoring ban faced by Joe Cole, the Liverpool footballer, after telling the court that the England international’s wife had been unable to get behind the wheel after being severely traumatised by a carjacking and therefore relied on her husband as a driver. Courts have shown clemency for a number of reasons, including accepting a plea from a businessman who persuaded magistrates that his company would lose key contracts. Andrew Howard, the AA’s head of road safety, voiced outrage at the number of motorists being let off. “You are not talking about someone who as made one mistake, but four,” he said. “If a quarter of motorists are getting let off, we seem to have forgotten the purpose of the law is to inconvenience those who repeatedly break it.” More