Penalty Points: Totting-Up Rules and Endorsement Codes

Penalty points (endorsements) go on your driving record when you're convicted of a motoring offence or accept a fixed penalty. Reach 12 within 3 years and you face a "totting-up" ban, this page explains the thresholds, common codes, and how long points stay on your licence.

What are penalty points

Penalty points, known formally as endorsements, are recorded against your driving licence when you're convicted of a motoring offence in court or you accept a fixed penalty notice instead of going to court. Each endorsement carries a code (like SP30 or DR10) and a number of points, and it stays visible on your driving record for a set period even after any points have "expired" for totting-up purposes.

Endorsements are separate from the fine or other penalty attached to the offence. You can receive points alongside a fine, a driving ban, or both, depending on the offence and how serious it was.

Totting-up: the 12-point rule

If you build up 12 or more penalty points within a 3-year period, you're at risk of disqualification under the "totting-up" provisions in section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. This applies regardless of which offences the points came from, it's the total that counts, not the type of offence.

The minimum disqualification periods are:

• 6 months for a first totting-up ban
• 1 year if you've had one other disqualification in the 3 years before the latest offence
• 2 years if you've had more than one other disqualification in that period

The court works out your points total as at the date of the offence that pushes you to 12 or more, not the date of sentencing. This means a later offence can still trigger a ban even if some earlier points would otherwise have expired for totting-up purposes by the time you're sentenced.

Exceptional hardship

Magistrates have discretion not to disqualify, or to reduce the ban, if disqualification would cause "exceptional hardship" to the driver or others, for example losing a job that depends on driving with no realistic alternative. The bar is genuinely high: ordinary inconvenience, or hardship that many drivers facing a ban would share, is not enough, and courts will usually only accept the argument once within a 3-year period for the same driver. Anyone considering this argument in a real case should get advice from a solicitor rather than relying on general guidance, since the outcome depends heavily on the specific facts put before the court.

New drivers: the 6-point rule

Under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995, a driver who reaches 6 or more penalty points within 2 years of passing their first driving test has their licence automatically revoked. This applies even if a single offence brings the total to 6, and even if the points come from more than one incident.

A revoked new-driver licence isn't just suspended, it's cancelled. To drive again, you must reapply for a provisional licence and re-sit both the theory test and the practical driving test, exactly as if you were learning from scratch. Points picked up during the 2-year new-driver period still count toward this rule even if some of them would later expire for general totting-up purposes.

How long points stay on your licence

Endorsements remain on your driving record for either 4 or 11 years, depending on the offence:

• 4 years from the date of the offence for most endorsements, including speeding and mobile phone offences
• 11 years from the date of conviction for drink-driving and drug-driving offences

Points only count toward the 12-point totting-up total for 3 years from the date of the offence, even though the endorsement itself stays on record for longer. After the retention period ends, the endorsement is removed from your licence record entirely.

Common endorsement codes

This is not a full list of endorsement codes, gov.uk publishes the complete table covering dozens of offences from careless driving to failing to stop after an accident.

Checking your points

You can check the points on your driving licence, along with any current disqualifications, using the DVLA's free online service. You'll need your driving licence number, and you can also generate a licence "check code" to share your record with an employer or a car hire company without handing over the physical licence. See our page on how to check your driving licence points for the step-by-step process.

Related pages

For the offences that most often add points to a licence, see our guides to speeding fines in the UK and driving without insurance. If you need to check your own record, use the DVLA licence check service covered on our checking driving licence points page. For the full picture of UK driving law, visit the driving laws hub, or the United Kingdom hub for our wider coverage of UK law.

This page is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. If you're facing a totting-up hearing, a new-driver revocation, or any other driving disqualification, get advice from a qualified solicitor about your specific circumstances.