Banned Motorists on roads after DVLA loses disqualifications

More than 1,000 banned drivers may still be on the roads because details of their disqualifications have been lost by the government agency that is supposed to keep track of them.

Despite the motorists having been banned by the courts for accruing 12 or more penalty points, the DVLA has failed to record details of their disqualifications on its database. It means that while it is still illegal for them to drive, they are able to take to the roads without fear of their ban showing up in a police check on their records.

It is understood that many other drivers are escaping bans in the first place because the DVLA is failing to provide accurate details of their motoring records to the courts. It means that motorists are remaining on the road because magistrates are unaware of how many points they already have on their licence when issuing a new penalty.

Last week the DVLA admitted that 11,000 drivers had avoided a ban despite reaching the 12 point threshold that should trigger disqualification. It has been thought that they were beneficiaries of leniency by magistrates, who were giving drivers a final chance after being persuaded that disqualification would cause exceptional hardship. But in fact many drivers were dodging a ban because magistrates were unaware they had 12 points.

The Court Service said, the DVLA is notified as soon as the court is successfully resulted, usually within 3-6 days of sentence. The result goes through electronically. There is no evidence to suggest there is any problem with the way HMCS notifies the DVLA of disqualifications.