Totting up (and exceptional hardship)

A driving ban for reaching 12 or more penalty points within three years, normally for at least six months.

Totting up is the rule in section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 that a driver who reaches 12 or more penalty points must normally be banned from driving. Points count if the offences were committed within three years of each other. The minimum ban is six months, rising to one year if you had one previous ban of 56 days or more imposed in the three years before the latest offence, and two years if you had more than one. The court can impose a shorter ban, or none, only if there are mitigating circumstances, most often exceptional hardship: hardship well beyond the usual inconvenience of losing a licence, often affecting other people such as dependants or employees. Circumstances used to avoid a ban cannot be relied on again within three years. Separately, new drivers who reach six points within two years of passing lose their licence.

Checked as at 25 September 2026. General information only, not legal advice.