Penalty points and Codes

Each endorsement has a unique offence code and is allocated ‘penalty points’ on a scale from one to eleven, depending on the severity of the offence. The endorsement (and penalty points) is updated on your driver record and written on your paper driving licence or the counterpart document of your photocard driving licence. It is shown as a TT99 code. Usually done by DVLA but sometimes by the court where you appear.

Producing your driving licence for endorsement

You do need to take your licence to court with you but if you have lost the document then the court can USUALLY obtain a copy of your driver's record from their computer system.

If your driving licence is mislaid or lost, get a duplicate online it is simple and easy and fast.

• Get a duplicate driving licence

If your driving licence is not returned after being endorsed, you’ll need to contact the Fixed Penalty Office or the court responsible for endorsing it. If you’ve changed address, or your licence is damaged or the endorsement area is full, the Fixed Penalty Office or court will send your driving licence to DVLA to be updated. It will be returned to you within three weeks.

Removing expired endorsements from your driving licence

You can apply to remove expired endorsements by exchanging your driving licence for a new one. 

Expired endorsements are automatically removed when you apply to renew or update your licence for other reasons.

Exceptional Hardship Proof

It is possible to reduce the length of disqualification or even remove it.

If there are mitigating circumstances. Simply saying to the court that the disqualification will cause hardship is not enough. It is thought that disqualification would normally cause hardship, and is part of the penalty. Only if you can show that the hardship is exceptional will the court consider that the penalty should be reduced. The courts interpret this strictly – exceptional hardship must be something out of the ordinary.

Exceptional hardship is only relevant when you are disqualified under the “totting up” provisions. If you accumulate 12 or more points on your licence within a period of three years, then you will automatically be disqualified from driving for a period of six months (or longer if you have been disqualified before).

What could amount to exceptional hardship in any given case depends on the circumstances. If you can show that the disqualification would also cause hardship to others – for example family members, work colleagues or employees, or others who rely on you, such as ill or infirm relatives – then this will certainly be in your favour. In one case, a self-employed painter and decorator argued that a disqualification would result in his business failing (resulting in hardship to him and his family) and his three employees losing their jobs (which would cause hardship for their families). The painter was the only person in the business who held a licence, and he required to drive a van to transport his employees and equipment. This was held to be exceptional hardship. 

Alternatively, if the disqualification would cause you extreme personal hardship, then the courts may consider that exceptional hardship has been established. In one case, a driver argued that if he was disqualified, he would lose his job, be unable to pay his mortgage and would lose his house, would be unable to pay a loan from his employers, and would probably result in the break-up of his marriage. The court considered that in the circumstances this was exceptional hardship. In another case, a full-time taxi driver in his forties successfully argued that if he was disqualified, he would lose his taxi licence which would take him up to ten years to regain. The court found that this amounted to exceptional hardship.