Totting Up Ban Calculator

You face a mandatory totting up disqualification if you accumulate 12 or more penalty points within a 3-year period. The 3-year period is calculated from the date of the first offence to the date of the new offence — not the conviction date. Points remain on your DVLA record for 4–11 years depending on the offence, but only points from offences within the 3-year window count towards the 12-point threshold.

 

Exceptional hardship is a legal argument you can put to the court when facing a totting up ban. If you can demonstrate that a ban would cause exceptional hardship — typically loss of employment, inability to care for dependants, or serious financial consequences, the court has discretion to impose a shorter ban or no ban at all. The threshold is high: ordinary inconvenience does not qualify. The court cannot rely on the same circumstances if they were already taken into account to reduce or avoid a totting-up ban within the previous 3 years.

 

Under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995, if you accumulate 6 or more penalty points within 2 years of passing your test, DVLA revokes your full licence. You do not receive a ban — instead you lose your full licence and must retake the theory test and practical driving test as a learner driver. The 6-point threshold applies to the total accumulated, not to any single offence.

 

Points expire for totting up purposes 3 years from the date of the offence (not the conviction date). However, they remain visible on your DVLA driving record for 4 years (minor offences) or 11 years (drink/drug driving). Insurers typically ask about convictions in the last 5 years, so they may still affect your premiums even after they stop counting towards a ban.