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3 Jan 2023

Almost 50 shops in the UK closed for good every day in 2022 - more than at any other time in the last five years – according to a new report from the Centre for Retail Research.

15 Dec 2022

Cytech training provider Activate Cycle Academy made it onto BBC television and radio this week as part of The One Show’s launch of a ‘Gift A Bike For Christmas’ campaign.

14 Dec 2022

Leicester has become the latest city to offer a free e-bikes scheme to encourage people to leave their cars at home and pedal around the city. The scheme, which is funded by the Department for...

13 Dec 2022

ACT’s Cytech delivery partner Activate Learning, of which Activate Cycle Academy is a part, is offering FREE online Microsoft accredited online courses for employers to enable their staff...

13 Dec 2022

We are starting a series of Retailer Profiles, shining a light on some of our best and most interesting independent retailers. If you would like us to consider your shop for inclusion, please...

12 Dec 2022

New research published by Cycling Scotland has shown that saving money is a key motivator for people taking up cycling. The study, which tracks changes in attitudes towards cycling in Scotland...

8 Dec 2022

Four in ten Britons dream of starting their own small business, with bookshops the most popular choice, according to new research by American Express Shop Small.

7 Dec 2022

During a tough economic climate with significant challenges for retailers, the Daily Telegraph has named 15 high streets around the country that it says, “retain a healthy selection of...

6 Dec 2022

The BBC has published comprehensive analysis of Ordnance Survey data that reveals the full extent of changes to Britain's High Streets after two years of Covid lockdowns and trading...

30 Nov 2022

Cycling UK has published its annual 100 Women in Cycling 2022 list celebrating inspirational women in cycling.

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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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