12 points but kept licence

[Lankeela]

Two years ago I was stopped at roadworks traffic lights, running late so picked up phone while stationery to let someone know I was on my way. Policeman drove through lights and turned round and pulled me over round the corner. Result 6 points and £200 fine as even though stationery apparently I was in charge of a vehicle with its engine running. Then May last year was done for speeding through a village twice on one day - 36 mph and 39 mph - same van but he had moved from one village to another (didn't see him the first time). Opted to go to court to plead exceptional hardship as I drive relatives to hospital appointments and losing my licence would have been difficult in a rural area and being a pensioner. On the first speeding fine I was hoping for a speed awareness course, but it was about ten days under three years since the previous one so I was not offered it. Fortunately thanks to a sympathetic magistrate I was allowed to keep my licence, two lots of 3 points making 12 points in total and only fined £40. So the situation I am now in is I have one year to go on the six points for the phone, but what I would like to know is should I be caught out again speeding (obviously not planning to!) would I automatically lose my licence or would they offer me a speed awareness course instead of the 3 points? It makes me very nervous driving as I am constantly checking speed limits and signs. Any thoughts?

[atticus]

HandyAndy will know better than me, but I would say that the chances of being offered a speed awareness course are slim. My advice is to make sure that you drive so as to defend your licence. I did that some 20 years ago when I had 6 points. You should be aware of speed limits and signs anyway when driving.

[HandyAndy]

You should be offered a course provided the speed is within (Limit +10% + 9mph) - so 42mph in a 30mph zone. Your current points tally should not influence whether or not you are offered a course. The only things that matter are the speed and whether the offence date of your last course was more than three years prior to the offence date of the latest one.

If you do gain any points before the six for the mobile phone offence expire you can make another "Exceptional Hardship" argument. But you cannot use the same reasons as your successful one within three years of the offence which took you to twelve points.

[PallasAthena]

Just a general comment or question really, but do different police forces use different criteria for calculating when the three year period for attending a previous speed awareness course runs from?

Some say three years from last speeding offence date, but others (eg this from West Midlands) say their eligibility criteria is if you "have not attended a Speed Awareness Course anywhere in the country within the last three years". So the three years appears to run from the last course date, not offence date.

Speed Awareness Course - West Midlands Police Camera Enforcement Unit

[HandyAndy]

I should be offence date to offence date.

As well as that, the passage about "anywhere in the country" is incorrect. Although they adhere to the same guidance on enforcement, Dorset police do not subscribe to the The National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) database. This means if a driver does a course provided by Dorset police he can still do another elsewhere (and vice versa) within three years. Don't ask me why this is. Despite trying to find out nobody seems to know!