There are hundreds of thousands of motoring offences committed every year on Britain's roads...

The punishment for driving and motoring offences vary depending on the severity of the offence. Minor Offences are often dealt with by the police by means of a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). Minor Offences include low-level speeding and using your mobile phone, although the latter is becoming more serious.

Drink and drug driving are things that are considered Major Offences, and rightly so! A Magistrate Court will deal with Major Offences and can even result in a prison sentence.

Offences will also often result in points on your licence. Any points and most offences must be declared to your insurance company immediately and may result in your renewal premium going up. Furthermore, it is actually and offence not to tell your insurer. In the UK, you are permitted up to 12 points on your licence before you receive a ban. However, if you accumulate 6 or more points within your first two years of having your licence, you will receive a ban and have to resit your test.

2017 saw 10.6 million appoints issued out to UK drivers. A staggering 72% of all those penalty points were issued to male drivers - that's 7.7 million points! Men seem to be infamous for traffic offences; according to recent statistics men commit an astounding 84% of all drink drive offences, "69% of speeding offences where points were given. 78% of recorded motorway speeding offences also involved males, and they are the recipients of 82% of points handed out for using a mobile phone at the wheel too."

Types of Offences

Speeding

Speeding is the most common motoring offence in the UK. There is a general guide of 10% plus 2 mph when looking at whether or not a driver was speeding. BUT this is not the law and it is up to the officer's discretion. According to the Depart of Transport in 2017, "48% of drivers exceed the speed limit while on the motorway, while just 9% do so on single carriageway roads that carry a national speed limit... 52% were found to have driven at an illegal speed on 30 mph roads." Year on year the number of speeding offences have increased. 126,693 people were prosecuted for speeding in 2007, with that number rising to 176,441 in 2017.

The consequences for speeding vary, again, depending on how far over the speed limit you were going. If it is your first time, you may receive the opportunity to accept a speed awareness course instead of 3 points. You still have to pay £100 for the course, which is the same as the cost of the fine. If you go over 45% of the speed limit, this will be passed to a Magistrate Court, who will most likely impose a hefty fine and/or a ban. Anything over 100 mph is an automatic ban!!

Using a mobile phone/device whilst driving

This one is probably the easiest way to earn yourself 6 points. And, remembering what we mentioned earlier, get caught doing this within your first two years of having your licence and you can say bye bye to it!!. The police are really cracking down on this one, with a £200 fine on top of your 6 points. Using any hand held device with your vehicle engine running is an offence, regardless of whether not you are stationary in traffic. You may use an approved hands-free device to connect your phone to in order to make phone calls. BUT should you have accident whilst on hands-free you may still find yourself being prosecuted for the separate offence of driving without due care and attention. Always think, can this call wait? How far do you think your car will travel when you look down at your phone for a short 5 second period... you know just to change a song or send a text??

Driving without insurance

Driving without valid insurance is a major problem on our roads. The law states that you must have at least third party insurance to drive. Most roads are equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras that instantly know if a vehicle is insured or not, and can notify the police. The consequences of driving without insurance are hefty, and rightly so! If stopped by the police without valid insurance, they have the power to seize your vehicle. You will also receive a £300 fine and 6 penalty points on your licence. A court (if applicable) has the power to impose a fine they deem fit, which has no upper limit, as well as an instant ban.

Even if your vehicle is insured, it may not be the correct time of insurance for the vehicle's use or even cover you. For example, if you are delivering for an online takeaway company self employed, you will need business insurance to complete deliveries. Caught working without this and you will receive the same consequences as driving without insurance.