How long before penalty points are spent?

thenudeone

There are many wrong answers above.

The correct answers are:

-Points count towards totting up for three years

-Points remain printed or written on your licence for four years

-A conviction (which includes Fixed Penalty Notice points) for an offence like speeding is not "spent" under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 until five years. That means you must declare them if an insurer or prospective employer asks, for five years.
If you fail to declare them to a prospective employer you're committing fraud - trying to obtain money (i.e. your salary) by deception (giving false information). and could be sacked if discovered.

If you fail to declare them to a prospective insurer you are also committing another offence (giving false information to obtain a certificate of insurance) as well as risking your policy being voided and YOU having to pay the insurer for any third party damages.

The "spent" period for more serious traffic offences will be more than five years.

Most traffic offences are not recordable and so don't create "a criminal record" but the above still applies.

thenudeone

zen135 wrote: »

If you didn't go to court for speeding and just received a fixed penalty notice, then it is not a criminal conviction

Wrong.

Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 s. 77 (7)
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/53/section/77
Points are classed as a conviction under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

Rover_Driver

thenudeone wrote: »

Wrong.

Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 s. 77 (7)
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/53/section/77
Points are classed as a conviction under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

s.52 (1), Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988
'In this Part of this Act “fixed penalty notice” means a notice offering the opportunity of the discharge of any liability to conviction of the offence to which the notice relates by payment of a fixed penalty in accordance with this Part of this Act.'

So accepting the fixed penalty is instead of a conviction

and s.77 (7)
'Where the counterpart of a person’s licence is endorsed under this section he shall be treated for the purposes of sections 13(4), 28, 29 and 45 of this Act and of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 as if—
(a)he had been convicted of the offence,'

The endorsement is treated as if the person had been convicted, not that they had been convicted.

thenudeone

If you're asked a question by a bank, insurer, or prospective employer, and you lie, you would normally be technically guilty of fraud (and possibly other offences such as making a false statement to obtain motor insurance).

However, in order to prevent someone's past ruining the rest of their life, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act allows you to lie in certain circumstances without committing an offence. i.e. you can legally state that you don't have a conviction, even if you do, and you can't be sacked for lying in these circumstances.

So what's the difference between the law treating you "as if" you were convicted, and the law actually having convicted you?

I suppose it depends on the exact question you're asked. If you have had fixed penalty points in the last 5 years, then before you answer "no" to the question "have you any convictions?" you'd better be sure that your insurer / employer / whoever has the same interpretation of "conviction" as you do, or be prepared to fight the case in court.

Rover_Driver

thenudeone wrote: »

I suppose it depends on the exact question you're asked.

Exactly, which is why motor insurers usually ask if you had any convictions or fixed penalties in the last five years. A fixed penalty would become spent after five years in the same way that a conviction would.