New Drivers & The Law
New drivers are drivers who have passed their driving tests in the past 24 months. During this period, you have more restrictions than more experienced drivers.
Instead of having 12 points available on your licence for motoring offences, in the first 24 months after passing your driving test, you only have 6 points available.
This means that you can lose your licence much more easily than motorists with more experience. This law is designed to focus new drivers attention on being safe and obeying the law.
With 6 points available for having not insurance, or permitting no insurance, a new driver can lose their licence for one offence. With speeding giving at least 3 points per offence and mobile phone offences soon to rise to 6 points per offence then it’s very important to pay attention as a new driver.
New Driver Penalties
Possibly the harshest part of the law for new drivers is that if you collect 6 points or more, not only will you lose your licence, but unlike more experienced drivers, you will face a full retest before you are given your licence back again. This is not only expensive, but time consuming and inconvenient, making it much more beneficial to comply with the law and your obligations.
Defending New Driving Licences
Once you have been given penalty points, and reach 6 or more, you will be banned from driving. The court has no power to prevent this from happening as it is triggered automatically by the DVLA.
The only way to keep your licence is to prevent the court from giving you the points in the first place. It is increasingly common to use special reasons arguments to negotiate a smaller length disqualification rather than a mandatory totting up ban, as this can be for just a few weeks at the magistrates discretion.
This is the only way to avoid the retest, but can only be used once during your 2 year probationary driving period.