What happens if I get 12 points on my licence?

Reaching 12 or more penalty points from offences committed within any rolling 3-year period is called "totting up", and it takes the decision out of the court's hands: under section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 the court must disqualify you. It cannot simply fine you instead.

How long the ban is, and which points count

• Minimum 6 months if you have not been disqualified before, 12 months if you have one previous disqualification of 56 days or more in the preceding 3 years, and 2 years if you have two or more. The court can go longer, but never shorter.
• The 3-year window runs from offence dates, not conviction dates. Points from an offence more than 3 years old are disregarded for totting up — even if the endorsement is still showing on your licence, as an 11-year drink driving endorsement would be.
• The threshold bites when the last offence is sentenced. Three points in March 2023, three in September 2023 and a 6-point mobile phone offence in October 2024 make 12, and all three fall inside the window.
• Your existing points are wiped at the end of the ban. The 3-year window does not restart from the end of the ban — it runs from the date of any new offence.

Your options

The one route to keeping your licence is an exceptional hardship plea at the sentencing hearing. Ordinary inconvenience, taxi costs or even losing your own income will not do; what persuades courts is serious hardship to innocent third parties — dependants, employees, a disabled relative you drive to hospital. You give evidence on oath and can be cross-examined, so prepare documents: employment contract, employer's letter, business accounts, care plans, transport timetables. Our guide to the exceptional hardship plea sets out the test in full. The same grounds cannot be used twice in 3 years, and the points stay on your licence even if the plea succeeds.

If you are already disqualified, you can appeal the conviction to the Crown Court within 21 days, or apply to the court that imposed the ban for early removal once you have served the minimum portion — half of a ban under 4 years, 2 years of a 4 to 10-year ban. Different rules apply if you passed your test less than 2 years ago: 6 points revokes your licence automatically, with no exceptional hardship escape and both tests to re-sit. If you are sitting on 9 points and another notice arrives, take advice from a motoring solicitor before you accept it.