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24 Mar 2025

Activate Cycle Academy has delivered a five-day bespoke training course to help Metropolitan Police officers to crack down on illegal e-bikes.

21 Mar 2025

UK cycle industry trade bodies the Bicycle Association (BA) and Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) have issued a joint message to cycle retailers who may be considering fitting e-bike conversion...

20 Mar 2025

Businesses and individuals that have signed up to the E-Bike Positive retailer safety pledge are urged by the ACT share pictures of the in-store campaign assets in action with the association.

20 Mar 2025

Cytech, the internationally recognised training and accreditation scheme for bicycle mechanics, have partnered with Bristol-based charity Life Cycle to offer a range of bicycle mechanic...

19 Mar 2025

A lot of cycling retailers would consider managing inventory the most crucial aspect of running a shop, investing significant effort and time into keeping on top of stock. However, high street...

19 Mar 2025

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has translated its e-bike and e-scooter safety guidance videos into multiple languages to improve accessibility for delivery riders and other...

14 Mar 2025

UK governing body British Cycling has announced a four-year strategy to "reinforce Britain’s position as a world-leading cycling nation", including improving access to cycling across the...

12 Mar 2025

Towns and cities across Britain are already seeing a wave of closures as independent businesses shut their doors ahead of April’s triple tax burden, including those in the cycling retail...

5 Mar 2025

New research has revealed a recent uptick in UK consumer confidence, leading to increased hiring by businesses, with the retail sector responding positively to signs of economic resilience.

4 Mar 2025

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has issued a fresh warning about the dangers of UPP e-bike batteries, urging consumers to stop using them immediately.

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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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