Driving 24 years overseas but I have three points and am a probationary driver in the UK. If I get 3 more points will they ban me?

On 8 Aug 2006 I exceeded the speed limit by 6 mph. I was driving a company car using an international license as I am non British. I pleaded guilty and paid the £60 fine. No points could be endorsed on the international license. I do not drive currently. I have applied for a Provisional UK License and hope to get a full UK driving license in the next few months. I have been told by DVLA that I must submit the provisional license to be endorsed with the 3 points and that if and when I get the full UK license it will have 3 points on it. These points remain for 4 years. In the first two years of driving if I get 3 more points i will lose the licence and have to resit all the tests. Can I somehow get these points off my licence (when I do get it) before the 4 year period. It seems very harsh. I have been driving for some 24 years with a very safe record.

Although the points are printed on your licence for four years, they are only valid for three, but regrettably they cannot be removed altogether. Probationary drivers (drivers within their first two years) in the UK getting six points on their licence have their licence revoked, rather than are banned, but it is possible to put in representations to the court in these circumstances which may result in a smaller number of points being awarded. Such circumstances might conceivably include 24 years previous driving experience or that to lose the licence might cause hardship.

In your particular circumstances, it may be that your previous driving experience means you will not go through a probationary period. This however requires that you undertook a driving test in a country in the EU or which the UK has otherwise designated as approved, a list of which is available from the DVLA website.

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