What happens if you get 6 points on your licence within 2 years of passing your test?
If you get 6 or more points within 2 years of passing your test, your driving licence will be revoked.
What are driving licence penalty points?
You can get endorsements (points) on your provisional or full licence for things like speeding, dangerous driving, not having insurance and other bad behaviour.
Penalty points stay on your licence for 4 or 11 years depending on how serious the driving offence is. Once you're through the 2 years after passing your test, you can be disqualified for building up 12 points or more in any 3-year period.
What happens when your driving licence is revoked?
The DVLA will basically cancel your driving licence. You'll have to apply and pay for a new provisional licence, and pass your theory and practical driving tests again. All of which costs you time and money.
Having your driving licence revoked is different from a driving ban. A ban or disqualification will be for a set length of time, whereas with losing your licence, you can start working towards passing your test again straight away.
What happens if you get points on your provisional licence?
Yes, you can get points on a licence you don't even have yet. If you speed or misbehave in any other way while you're learning and practising, you'll get points in the exact same way as with a full licence.
Can you take your test with points on your provisional licence?
The points on your provisional licence will remain valid until they expire and will be transferred to your full licence when you pass, but they won't stop you from taking your driving test.
If you get any further penalty points that take you up to a total of 6 or more within 2 years of passing your driving test, your licence will be revoked and you'll be back to square one.
If you have 6 or more points (11 being the maximum) on your provisional licence, you can still take your test. But if you get even one more point after passing, your licence will be revoked.
You can check your driving licence for points on GOV.UK.
Will my points be registered from the date of the offence or the date they receive my licence?
The date of the offence is what’s relevant, not the date you get the letter or date they receive your licence.
I retook my tests after my licence was revoked, will I be on a 2-year New Driver probation again?
When you retake and pass your driving theory and practical test you're not classed as a new driver anymore, so you won't have the 2 year New Drivers Act probation again - this just applies for the first 2 years from the first test you take and pass.
The 6 points you do have will go across to your new licence and if you reach 12 or more points within any 3 year period, you would be subject to a totting up disqualification, as would any other driver.
Am I still classed as a New Driver if I passed a test in a different category?
Your licence would only be revoked under the New Drivers Act if you get 6 or more points within the first 2 years of passing the first test you take.
If you now pass in a manual, having passed in an automatic first or just passed your test to drive a car (when you only had a motorcycle licence) you’re not classed as a new driver as far as the New Drivers Act states - the 2 years start from when you passed your first test.
Using your phone at the wheel = automatically losing your licence
If you're caught using your phone while you're driving, you'll get a £200 fine and 6 points. For drivers with less than 2 years on the road, that'll mean an automatic revocation of your licence.
Updated: 30/09/20
Check out the penalty points you can get for driving offences.
By Katey Gregory
Katey Joined ingenie in 2014 and is in charge of all things social and content. She passed her driving test in 2015 and her first car is a Toyota Yaris T3 named Tyrone.
Speed
Acceleration
Braking
Cornering
how many points we have in the first 2 years? thanks
Hi Rox,
If you get 6 points or more within 2 years, you’ll lose your licence.
Thanks,
Honor
Hi Honor does the 2 year probationary period after you passed your test go from your pass date or the date on your license?
Hey Andrew,
It would make sense for it to be from the date you passed, as the DVLA will know that – but I would check your licence details online here: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence
Hopefully that information will be included.
Thanks,
Honor
They go by when they issue your license I passed on the 17th and it shows the 26th on my license so it’s not from when you passed but what date you have on your license.
Thanks for coming back to let us know Andrew, good information to have.
If your license is revoked do you have to go through the courts , or is it just sent away to the DVLA ?
Hi Jamie,
If you exceed the number of points you’re allowed (12 within 3 years for someone who’s been driving more than 2 years / 6 within 2 years for a new driver), you’ll get a summons to go to court, where your disqualification will be decided. There’s more information here:
https://www.gov.uk/driving-disqualifications/overview
Hope that helps.
Honor
If your license is taken off you and revoked , does this count as a conviction ?
If you mean is it a criminal conviction, it depends what you lost your licence for. I’ve called the DVLA and they don’t hold that information – you’d need to find out from the court that disqualifies you or the police. Sorry!
Let me know if you need any more help.
Honor
Hi Hussain,
That’s something you’d need to ask either the DVLA or your solicitor as I can’t really guess at legal proceedings. You can check the status of your licence here: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence but that might not have been updated yet so don’t take what you find as accurate just yet.
Hope that helps!
Honor
Hi Dean. Did you go to court? You should get a summons and then you’ll be told in court that your licence is revoked.
You can then reapply after the period the judge tells you.
Honor
Hi Rachel,
You can see if the last lot of points were recorded on your licence here: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence
I can’t really advise whether they’ll count against you because it’s a legal matter. If you do now have 6 points though, you will probably be disqualified.
Honor
Hi Kazimieras, you can still take your test and you’ll be given your licence. However, if you get any more points in your first two years on the road, you’ll be disqualified. The points do transfer to your new licence, and they’ll stay for the full 4 years you keep points. You have to disclose them to insurers.
Think very carefully about whether you’re ready to take your test if you’ve already got 6 points on your provisional. What happened?
Honor
Hi, my boyfriend today has been caught on his phone and the new law means he has six points and his licence revoked straight away. is there any way he can avoid loosing his licence as he has a job earning £4000 a year and his job depends on his licence?
Hey Jess. Was he stopped by police? If he gets a summons to court, that’s when his licence status will be decided. It is a serious offence but it will depend on the outcome in court.
Thanks,
Honor
yeah he was but they didn’t say they were going to take it off him. he’s been driving for just under two years but has been given six points. are the court quite lenient as it would ruin his life if he lost it?
The information about it is here: https://www.gov.uk/penalty-points-endorsements/new-drivers
The decision may just be given to him via post as it’s a pretty hard and fast rule, and if his licence is revoked, he’ll have to get a new provisional licence and retake his tests. There may be an appeal process but if he was caught on his phone, it’s not very likely it would be successful.
Thanks,
Honor
is there an amount of time he will have to wait before retaking his test or can he do it straight away
I’m not sure I’m afraid, Jess. He’ll need to call the DVLA to find out something like that.
Honor
Hi Dina,
At 6 points (which I think you’re saying is what you have?), your licence will probably be revoked. You should get a letter about that.
Thanks,
Honor
hii I got 6 points before taking the test. Now I have the licence but I just got another 3 points. I am asked to send my licence to DVLA. Does it mean my licence will be revoked? thanks
Hi Bakerr, any points you get on your provisional licence get carried over to your full licence, so I think that’s what the DVSA are saying I’m afraid.
Honor
I passed me driving test on April 4th 2016. So I was wondering does the 2 year probationary period (where u are allowed a maximum amount of 6 points what ever your age) expire on the date on April 4th or 5th 2018.i don’t have any points and bans atm, just wondering
Planning on going a bit GTA to celebrate, Andy? 😉
In all honesty I’m not sure but I would imagine that on the second anniversary of your test pass you would be considered past your probationary period.
Congratulations on making it through!
Honor
My boyfriend let me drive his car and the police court us and now we are going to court does this mean that he will get 6 points etc?
He has been driving 2 years 🤚🤚
Hi Shauna,
It’s likely you’ll both get points but I can’t guess how many. If your boyfriend has been driving 2 years or over, he may not lose his licence but if it’s less, it could go that way as 6 points is the maximum a new driver is allowed.
There are several offences here: driving uninsured (and maybe unlicensed?) for you. Your boyfriend was acting as a supervising driver but violating the rules, which has its own penalty.
Hope that clears it up for you.
Thanks,
Honor
Hi Bella,
Sorry to hear about the accident but glad to hear everyone involved was OK.
Your best option is to speak to the police officer’s who took the report as to what happens next. If they took statements from yourself and the pedestrian (or any witnesses) they may need to discuss what happened in more detail and what action to take. It could be seen as careless driving in which case there would be penalty points given, but it really does depend on the police report, the amount of damage, what the pedestrian’s statement was and any other circumstances at the time.
If you call them they should be able to give you an update and some reassurance on this.
Hope that helps,
Thanks,
Katey
Hi Bella,
Notices from the DVSA usually take 2 weeks but I don’t know how long a summons would take if it was a court matter.
Honor
Hi Ali,
Losing your licence isn’t the same as being banned because you’re just sent back to the beginning of the process, not given a ban of any length. I would advise you to give them a ring to make sure because if you get it wrong, your insurance won’t be valid.
Thanks,
Honor
Hi Randa,
If you did the course, that was instead of points so you should still have only 3 points on your licence.
I would really consider how important driving is to you – racking up points this early is not a good idea and whoever is supervising your driving practice should be more aware of these issues.
You can check your points here: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence
Thanks,
Honor
thank you for your reply, i have another question what would having 3 point mean for my insurance next year?
You’l need to declare the points to your insurer so it’s likely your price will be affected. I can’t really guess by how much but it will definitely be a consideration for the insurer.
Honor
Hi Raydan,
You can only take an awareness course once in every 3 years so it depends on when you did your last one.
Honor
hi
my son passed his test in january this year, he had his insurance cancelled for black box infringements a few days ago unknown to me. he was stopped by the police last night and had his car taken off him for driving without cover.
he has now reinsured the car and is going to get it back today.
the poilce have told him he will get 6pts which will mean revoked licence but if he speaks to dvla when he gets the points and explains that he commutes around 50mls per day for his job that they may increase his points allowance to 7.
is this true? and at what point should he contact the dvla? i think waiting until he receives the points is too late?
thanks
gary
Hi Gary,
This allowance is not something we’ve heard of before so we would strongly advise that your son contacts the DVLA immediately on 0300 790 6801 to discuss this.
Thanks,
Katey
Hi Ebony, the insurer will likely ask you about any driving convictions so I would think you will need to declare the points or situation that led to you losing your licence.
Thanks,
Honor
Hi I have 2 cars my mam drives one and got caught speeding we sent off all information of driver etc then today a letter comes and said they gave me 6 points for not giving the information of the driver bearing in mind I never got any more letters from them so they have revoked my licence what can I do ?
Hi there – call the DVLA and ask explain the situation. They’ll be able to advise you on appealing the revocation of your licence.
Good luck!
Honor
Hi hopefully someone can help. Stepson crashed his car last year whilst in the two year new driver period. He has now been summonsed to appear in court but his 2 year period has ended. If he is given 6-12 point’s now would they be dated from court date or offence date?
Hi there,
I THINK it would be from conviction date but I can’t promise. If you call the DVLA, they will hopefully be able to clarify for you.
Thanks,
Honor
You’re welcome – good luck!
Hi. I got 6 points when I was still in the probation period of driving (had been driving less than 2 years) and so got my licence revoked. I was wondering if anyone knows how long these points will be on my license. And if this amount of time will have started from when I got the points, even if I didn’t reapply for a new provisional license?
Thanks
Hi Dionne,
When your licence is revoked it means it’s completely cancelled. You’ll need to go back to the beginning of the process and reapply for a provisional licence.
Thanks,
Honor
Hi 🙂 when can Dionne (or anyone who has their licence cancelled within the two year period) re apply for a new provisional?
Thanks
Dave
In this case your licence would have been revoked, so you can apply again straight away. If you’ve been disqualified, you’d be given a set period in which you can’t apply for a new licence.
https://www.gov.uk/reapply-licence-revoked
what is the earliest point following the revocation that anyone/he can apply for provisional license.
1. immediately
2. after 3 months elapsed
3. after 6 months elapsed
4. after 12 months elapsed
Hi Muhammad,
After a licence revocation, you can reapply straight away. If you’ve been disqualified, you have to wait until after the disqualification ends.
There’s more here: https://www.gov.uk/reapply-licence-revoked
Thanks,
Honor
Hi I got 6 points on my provisional license 3 years ago and am now doing my test will these points go on to my full license when I pass ? Or will they be cancelled by now ?
Hi Lauren,
Points get carried over to your full licence but they expire after 3 years so check the date you got them.
https://www.gov.uk/penalty-points-endorsements/new-drivers
Thanks,
Honor
Thank you for ur reply . Points have already gone but my insurance is still high because I declared them , and passed 👌 Yesterday So hopefully after this year will go down
Thank you again
Hi,
If I was caught speeding 2 weeks before my 2 year period and my court date is after this, and I get 6points, surely I would be getting 6 points on my license after the 2 year period, so wouldn’t lose my license? is this correct?
thanks
Hi Will,
I’m pretty sure it’s up to the court, I’m afraid. I can’t give you a definite either way.
Good luck,
Honor
hello iv had my license revoked for driving with no valid insurance .. iv got to had over my driving license by post i can then apply for my provisional licence straight away but once iv passed what happens to the 6 points i have as i wont be able to have 6 points but confused?also i have valid insuance atm shall i cancel it or keep it insured on my drive?
Hi Joshua,
Once you’ve got your new licence it won’t have any points on it because you’ve started the process again. You’ll need to cancel your insurance and declare your car SORN (off the road) here: https://www.gov.uk/make-a-sorn. It might be a better idea to sell the car though, as the passing process takes a while and you may struggle to get insured affordably once you have your licence back.
Good luck,
Honor
I’m try online websites driving test, the after tell me all about
Hi I got 3 points on a motorcycle two years ago, I now have passed my test for car. Does that mean I only have 3 points to get disqualified?
Hi John,
I’m afraid I don’t know about motorcycle licences. I would call the DVLA to check with them or check your licence endorsements online here: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence
Honor
hi i had my liscence revoked for speeding, I wanted to know when I pass again do I put the date I previously passed on my insurance or the new one?
Hi Andrew,
Most quote forms will say ‘How long have you held THIS licence?’ – so you use the date you pass this time around.
Thanks,
Honor
Hi there,
I passed my driving test in May 2016, I already had 3 points on my license from a moped, the points were due to expire on the 12th of April 2017. Accidentally I ran a red traffic light and got caught by a camera, this incident took place on April 8th 2017. I was first made aware of the incident on the 28th of April when I had a letter come through the post, I thought it might effect my driving license but checked on the Gov website and saw that my previous points had expired, not realising that they would add the points on from the incident date not the conviction date. Therefor for 4 days I had a tally of 6 points on my license so DVLA have now revoked my license, problem is I was doing over a 100 miles a day for work so my drivers license was essential for me to carry out my job, I was unfortunate that my contract had just ended in my last job and was going to start a new contract but will now not take me on due to my circumstances and wont represent me in court due to me not technically being employed by them no more.
Question is, one, do you think I would be able to represent myself in court and win the case with my current work circumstances and also the previous points being so close to the expiry dates before the other 3 points went on?
And second question, If worse comes to worse and I have to go back to a provisional license, will I be classed as a new driver again, therefor having 3 points on my license and having the risk of losing my license again if I happen to obtain another 3 points in that two years?
Thanks
William
Hi William,
I can see you’ve got a lot on your plate here but I can’t advise you on any legal matters. Your case is pretty complicated so you definitely need to talk to the DVLA themselves on 0300 790 6801 . You also need legal advice.
I hope you get it sorted out,
Honor
Hi my son has been driving since the end of may this year. He was found to be speeding at 50miles per hour in a 30 zone as he thought it was a national speed area (as did I when he showed me where it happened). He explained this to the officer at the scene who was sympathetic and says it is a regular mistake on that particular road. He has had a letter ftom the police informing him he will receive a court summons. Is he likely to receive 6 points for this and have his licence revoked?
Hi Mrs A,
The minimum penalty for speeding is 3 points so if your son is lucky, that’s what he’ll get. Unfortunately, he was driving too fast to be offered a speed awareness course instead of the points as the threshold is 35mph in a 30. If he is given 6 points, he will lose his licence and have to begin the application process again.
I can’t give you legal advice but if the officer who pulled your son over noted mitigating circumstances, hopefully that will come up in court.
Good luck,
Honor
Thank you. If he does get the 6 points and has to start from scratch again will the increase on his insurance following on from this be so high as to not be realistically feasible?
It’s hard to say how much it would impact his insurance but he will have to declare the offence so it is very likely to make his insurance more expensive. At this point, having a black box might help you save money as the insurer will be able to see he’s driving well.
It sounds like this was an honest mistake so I do hope he gets the 3 points and can move past it.
Honor
Thank you I appreciate your help. Fingers crossed
Hi, I lost my licsence because I was driving without insurance my license got revoked however I’m going to pass it both again. And I was wondering does my licsence date stay the same as to when I got it first prior to the incident or does it become a whole different date
Hi Siar,
Your new licence date will be the date your new licence issued because you’ve started the process again.
Good luck!
Honor
Hi Shannon,
The 3 points you have now are included in the 12 points total you can get within a 3-year stretch. Getting 6 points in your first 2 years = revoked licence. Getting 12 points in any 3 years = disqualified.
Is that OK? Let me know if you need more help.
Honor
Hi. I i reciped an offer of a course as a result of the ofence of speeding.
I wasn’t awarded of that letter after few months later and time for booking the course is now expire.
Do i have any chance to rebooking the course and remove 3 penalties points?
Hi Ivan,
I think if you’ve missed the deadline that might be it. Is there a contact number on the letter? Maybe try giving them a ring.
Good luck!
Honor
My daughter got caught with no insurance recently. Her now ex boyfriend assured her the car he bought her as a gift was insured too and she drove it waiting for the documents to appear. He never paid for insurance. She has now insured the vehicle herself but unfortunately she has recieved 6 points and has had her licence revoked. Is it worth her appealing in court or pay her fine and start the process of regaining her licence again?
Hi Mrs C,
Sounds like a really stressful situation. I’m afraid I can’t give you legal advice and I don’t know how successful an appeal would be. The sooner the better with starting that process again, as obviously she needs to retake all her tests.
Hope it goes OK,
Honor
Hi Hannab,
Unfortunately not paying the fine is not going to delay you losing your licence. It’s probably best you speak to the DVLA directly about this – the number to call is 0300 790 6801.
Sorry we couldn’t help here.
Thanks,
Katey
Hi I have 28 days to pay the fine which would take me over feb the 24th
We can’t really advise you any further on this Hannab. The points may have been applied straight away so the fine deadline may not be relevant here. It’s really something you need to speak to the DVLA about to get a clearer answer on this.
Thanks,
Katey
Hi Scarlett,
If your licence is revoked in the first 2 years you’ll have to start the learning to drive process again but you can apply for a new licence at any time. If you’ve been disqualified from driving – that’s a bit different as you won’t be able to drive until your disqualification period has ended.
Hope that helps.
Thanks,
Katey