Article: More than 50 people have UK licences with 30 points

[Mark_P]

Three male licence holders have more than 100 points, including a 26-year-old with 176, according to analysis of official figures by the PA news agency. The woman with the most points is a 50-year-old with 96.

 

How do these people afford the insurance premiums? 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/nov/04/more-than-50-people-have-uk-driving-licences-with-at-least-30-points-on-them?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

[Gren]

7 hours ago, Mark_P said:

 

How do these people afford the insurance premium?

They probably don't have insurance - that's possibly why they have the points 

[Mark_P]

I did think that but some of them have claimed that they need to continue to drive for work. 

[Haliotis]

This topic has really annoyed me.  I am 89 and have been driving for over 70 years.  In that time. Have collected one SP30 fine (3 points) in 2054 for doing 40 mph on a dual carriageway that I was not familiar with.  And one fault claim in 2011 when my caravan swayed on a congested overflow trailer park and it rubbed against an adjacent parked caravan.  This did not affect my car insurance as my caravan was comprehensively insured, and that covered the claim.  Caravans are notorious for sway due to their soft rubber suspension so, when I changed it in 2012, I bought one with shock absorbers which stiffens up the suspension.

Yet I am getting silly lowest quotes of £1,900 plus on the comparison sites.  Consequently I have not touched these sites in the last few years, going directly to the insurers themselves.  But was has happened here, without any change in circumstances, is that I have obtained a reasonable premium in the first year and have been hammered in subsequent ones, so that I had to switch insurer to find another decent premium.  The problem, at my age, is that some insurers will refuse on age grounds unless you are already with them.  This, of course, confines me to accepting ridiculously high premiums not consistent with my driving record.

[Mjolinor]

11 minutes ago, Haliotis said:

Have collected one SP30 fine (3 points) in 2054 for doing 40 mph on a dual carriageway that I was not familiar with. 

 

£1900 doesn't surprise me, for a time machine it seems very reasonable.

Just done Smarty today. £125 for the year. 🙂 Read it and weep boys.

 

[Mark_P]

6 minutes ago, Mjolinor said:

£1900 doesn't surprise me, for a time machine it seems very reasonable.

Just done Smarty today. £125 for the year. 🙂 Read it and weep boys.

 

Is the speed limited to 15mph? 😂

[FROSTYBALLS]

10 hours ago, Mark_P said:

How do these people afford the insurance premiums? 

Some insurance providers and brokers specialise in insuring drivers with convictions.

[Bper]

it is estimated that around 1 million drivers in the UK are uninsured, which represents approximately 4% of all motorists. No doubt the continued increase in insurance premiums has lead to this. What happens if they have an accident and they are asked for their details.?

[Mark_P]

1 hour ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Some insurance providers and brokers specialise in insuring drivers with convictions.

I've just learned something new. 😱

[Cyker]

Wait, am I doing this wrong? I thought you could only get a maximum of 12 points then you lose your license!?

[FROSTYBALLS]

It can be down to the court's discretion as to whether one gets banned at 12 points or not.

[Cyker]

So, I'm aware there is this "exceptional circumstances" get-out clause, but I understood that was generally for use where e.g. the person drives for a living and loosing their license would cripple them, or there were extenuating circumstances and it has only just gone over the limit, that sort of thing.

Not when it's hitting 30+ points!!  That it can rack up to 3 digit figures without disqualification tells me something is wrong with how this works - I certainly don't want to share a road with someone who's managed to rack up that many points!! What's even the point of having the 12 point limit!?  

To be fair it is a statistically microscopic number of people so maybe I'm just being overly paranoid. They must be exceptional people...  Maybe they should be the first people given autonomous cars  

[davidif]

I think that the 12 point rule should apply unless in exceptional circumstances/at the courts discretion and in which case an absolute maximum should apply, say 18 points? No ifs, no buts at 18 points the licence is revoked.

It worries me that the rest of us have to share the roads with these people!!

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

To put this into context, of the 42 million plus full licence holders in the UK, 50 or so with more than 30 points is a relatively small percentage, so the chances of any of these living by you is slim.