Get Your Disqualification Removed Early: Restoration of Your Drivers Licence

Get Your Disqualification Removed Early: Restoration of Your Licence

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Get Your Disqualification Removed Early: Restoration of Your Drivers Licence

Always ask a lawyer if you are unsure about any of the advice and information provided here.

If you have been disqualified for more than 2 years, you can apply to the court that gave you the last disqualification under section 42 of the Road Traffic (Offenders) Act 1988 to have it removed after a minimum period. This is:

  • 2 years if you were disqualified for less than 4 years
  • half the period of disqualification if it is less than 10 but not less than 4 years
  • 5 years if you were disqualified for 10 years or more.

In Scotland you require to Petition the court that removed your right to drive and ask them to consider allowing you to drive again due to your present circumstances. Legally speaking once you have served the minimum of your ban you are eligible to apply for the early restoration of your drivers licence. However, in order to be successful,you should be able to illustrate to the Court that your circumstances dictate that having your licence to drive returned to you would provide a material benefit. This is not pushing at an open door. An experienced solicitor is well worth employing from the outset to ensure the best arguments are put forward on your behalf. The court is obliged to consider:

  • The character of the person disqualified and, crucially, their conduct since the disqualification. If a person has committed any other offences in the interim, persuading the court that a disqualification should be removed early will be very difficult
  • The nature of the offence (which will always be serious in nature standing the length of disqualification)
  • Any other circumstances of the case. This last criterion can be determinae. In particular, if there has been a change in your circumstances which makes the ban more onerous that it was at the time of sentence, it will be beneficial to your case.

We really would suggest that you should invest the fee in getting a good road traffic lawyer on board. A formal petition requires to be framed and lodged with the court. Thereafter representations require to be made on your behalf. The Crown is entitled to ask the polcie to investigate the claims made in the petition to ensure their veracity. Of course if the report is positive, it can actually help in ensuring the success of the petition.

If you fill in the ‘online form’ on this page we will send you details on how to petition the Court to restore your licence yourself in Scotland. We strongly recommend that you receive further legal advice on this issue before incurring the costs of lodging your petition with the court that imposed the ban, and it is a service that our firm can be instructed to represent for.


Commonly Asked Questions

At least two years and one day. If you have been disqualified for two years or less, you simply require to serve the disqualification. If you have been disqualified for more than 4 years but less than 10, you must serve at least half of the disqualification. If you have been disqualified for more than 10 years, you must wait at least five years. Of course your petition can be prepared well in advance so that it is ready to be lodged at the earliest possible opportunity.

No. Not only would this be lying to the court, which is an offence in itself, but you are also likely to be caught. The Crown are entitled to ask the police to investigate any claims put forward in the petition.

You can try again but must wait at least 3 months. 

It is understandable why this advice has been given but our view is that you can indeed apply. A person disqualifed for dangerous driving is disqualified under section 34 of the Road Traffic (Offenders) Act 1988. However they are also ordered to remain disqualified until they pass an extended driving test under section 36 of that Act. Section 42, which provides for early removal of disqualification, expressly states that the section shall not apply to disqualifications imposed under section 36. However our understanding is that this only means that a successful applicant still requires to pass the extended driving test before their disqualification ends. For example, a person may be disqualified for 3 years for dangerous driving and also ordered to resit the extended test. That person would ordinarily require to wait three years before arranging to resit their test. But that person then applies successfully to have the disqualification removed after 2 years and 6 months. That person still has to pass the extended test but can take the test 6 months earlier than would otherwise have been the case.

Nothing is certain. The court has imposed a disqualification which it considered justified. The petition goes back to the origina court which means it could well go back to the original sheriff! Needless to say, the Sheriff will require to be persuaded that there are good grounds for early removal of disqualification. A well-prepared and well-argued petition are crucial.

Certain repeat offences related to drink-driving carry mandatory 3 year sentences. A person so disqualified is still entitled to apply for an early removal of disqualification. It is fair to say, however, that the arguments put forward will have to be particualrly persuasive if the application is to succeed.