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20 Oct 2022

Cycling charity Cycling UK has renewed its call on the Government to close the loophole in the law which allows people to escape driving bans.

19 Oct 2022

Rouleur Live is Rouleur magazine brought to life, bringing together the best guests and the finest brands to offer consumers a truly unique celebration of cycling culture in London this...

18 Oct 2022

People are looking to reduce their fuel spending by taking more journeys by bike, with as many as 30 per cent excited to rediscover two-wheeled journeys, according to a study by online cycling...

17 Oct 2022

The new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has confirmed in a statement that the Energy Bill Relief Scheme for businesses will continue to the end of March 2023 as planned.

14 Oct 2022

The Department for Business is asking all businesses to respond to a survey on energy bills and the impact increased costs are having on your business. The IRC is similarly urging members to...

13 Oct 2022

National media has reported that most Britons say that the cost-of-living crisis is forcing them to shun local shops in favour of big brands to get the cheapest prices.

11 Oct 2022

A new study, by careers experts, StandOut CV, claims to have identified the best and worst cities in the UK for customer service by highlighting the frequency of positive and negative comments...

11 Oct 2022

The British Chamber of Commerce’s Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) for Q3 2022 shows a significant decline of key economic indicators, with weakening structural business conditions and...

10 Oct 2022

Britain’s retailers in September saw their sales grow by the slowest rate since shops reopened after the end of Covid-19 lockdowns, as consumers cut spending in the face of rising energy...

6 Oct 2022

To coincide with Cycle to School Week, Sustrans has been calling on local authorities and Central Government to guarantee protected cycle lanes on main road routes to schools.

Legislate to close ‘hardship loophole’ to keep all road users safe, Cycling UK demands

Posted on in Cycles News , Outdoor News

Cycling charity Cycling UK has renewed its call on the Government to close the loophole in the law which allows people to escape driving bans.

Hardship loopholeCurrently, drivers who have 12 penalty points on their licence, which would normally result in a temporary driving ban, can avoid a ban by claiming it would cause them “exceptional hardship”.

Cycling UK has calculated more than 83,000 drivers with 12 points or more have escaped disqualification in the past ten years. In October 2020, the Sentencing Council issued guidance for magistrates which was intended to reduce the number of offenders with totting up offences who avoided disqualification.

As reported in the Sunday Times, since those changes, the Sentencing Council said it has been suggested by some magistrates and legal advisers that courts are too often imposing short discretionary disqualifications (of less than 56 days) where people have received 12 or more points.

Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s head of campaigns, said: “The Sentencing Council’s report shows we now have a loophole within a loophole. The result is people who should be facing six-month or longer driving bans are continuing to pose a risk on our roads, often with fatal results.”

The Sentencing Council cannot enact legislative change, but only issue guidance to magistrates to follow. Cycling UK says that with evidence the guidance is ‘failing’, the Government must enact necessary legislation to keep all road users safe.

Dollimore said: “For the past eight years we have been promised by successive ministers a review of Road Traffic Offences and Sentencing. This review, if it ever begins, could put an end to the fatal flaws, like the exceptional hardship loophole, in our current road safety legislation.

“Exceptional hardship is not losing the right to drive, exceptional hardship is what families such as Louis McGovern’s and Lee Martin’s have to face when their loved ones do not return home. Exceptional hardship is when the courts put the retention of someone’s licence to drive above the safety of other road users. Exceptional hardship is when the courts allow irresponsible people to carry on driving until they cause further harm or death on the roads.

“The law as it is, does not deliver justice and fails to reduce danger on our roads. For more than eight years the government has recognised our road traffic laws failing – it’s about time they brought in their much-needed change.”

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