Totting up and pleading exceptional hardship
If a driver defendant amasses 12 of more penalty points within a 3 year period then he is a ¢totter¢. A totter must be disqualified from driving for a minimum period of 6 months (or more if he has totted before).

However if the totter can show that ¢exceptional hardship¢ would result from a totting disqualification then the mandatory 6 months disqualification period can be avoided. The hardship suffered must be exceptional ¢ mere loss of employment alone will usually not be sufficient and defendants are usually expected to show that a disqualification would lead to hardship being caused to other innocent parties, e.g. to family members, employers or employees.

A special exceptional hardship hearing will take place and the defendant will be expected to give evidence on oath and to provide evidence to support his argument. He can expect to have to answer detailed questions put by the magistrates and their legal advisor.

We have a great deal of experience in presenting these cases to the courts and are able either to advise totter how best to gather and give evidence, prepare for the hearing and deal with court procedure. We can of course also attend court to present the argument, take you through your evidence and deal with the case from start to finish or simply write to the court to outline your argument.

If successful then the totting disqualification is avoided but all the points remain on the totters licence so if he accumulates more points before falling back below the 12 point threshold as points become ¢spent¢ then he will tott again. This is very significant because a defendant cannot argue exceptional hardship based on the same grounds twice in any three year period.

Some cases do throw up an anomaly in the law:
Suppose you have 9 points on your licence and are caught driving at 30mph or more over the limit, say for example 100mph on the motorway. There are two ways forward for the magistrates, they could impose a short period of disqualification of a few weeks or impose penalty points.

A short ban is technically the more severe penalty but could be preferable to points because if points are imposed then the driver is at risk of a totting disqualification.

Exceptional hardship cannot be pleaded to avoid a drink driving ban.

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