Motoring Convictions: The Law vs Reality

Navigating motoring convictions in the UK is a surprisingly complex matter which may need specialist advice to work out the impact of endorsements on your licence and the effect they can have on other convictions. Even speeding points where they result in an endorsement on your licence ARE a criminal conviction but they are not recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC) system and therefore do not normally show up on DBS checks. 

Legal Framework: Rehabilitation Periods 

Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, motoring endorsements become 'spent' after a specific rehabilitation period, meaning they no longer need to be disclosed in most circumstances. The length of this period depends on the nature of the offence and the penalty imposed. 

• Penalty Points and Endorsements: Penalty points on their own have a rehabilitation period of 3 years but when they are endorsed onto a driving licence under the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, the rehabilitation period is 5 years for an adult (2.5yrs for U18) from the date of the conviction or endorsement. Endorsements that are for 11 years do not stop the conviction relating to the offence from becoming spent earlier, subject to the other elements of the sentence 

  
  

• Penalty Points Validity: While the rehabilitation period for an endorsement to your licence is 5 years (adult), penalty points count towards 'totting up' for 3 years from the date of the offence (not the endorsement) and remain visible on a driving licence for 4 years from the date of the offence. 

  
  

• Driving Bans with a Required Retest: If a driver receives a ban with a condition to retake the driving test, the conviction remains unspent until the test is retaken, regardless of whether the test is passed. As this will usually result in an endorsement of the licence the conviction will attract a rehabilitation period of 5 years, or until the test is retaken, if longer. 

Practical Implications: The Reality 

Even after a conviction is legally 'spent,' its impact may still be felt in various ways: 

• Employment Considerations: Employers often conduct background checks for roles involving driving. Even spent convictions may appear on records employers can access, particularly for jobs requiring a clean driving history. 

  
  

• Insurance Premiums: Insurers frequently ask about motoring convictions, including speeding points, within the past 5 years, which may result in higher premiums or refusal of coverage. 

  
  

• DBS Checks: Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks do not routinely include low level motoring endorsements on DBS certificates as these are recorded by the DVLA and do not form part of an individual’s record on the Police National Computer (PNC): 

  
  

• Basic DBS Check: Reveals unspent convictions but does not show endorsements of simple penalty points, for example for speeding. 

  
  

• Standard and Enhanced DBS Checks: May disclose both spent and unspent convictions, especially those involving serious offences but not endorsements of simple penalty points, for example for speeding.

• Drag though: Whilst legally, endorsements on a licence are an offence that can impact earlier unspent convictions, in practice because they are not normally recorded on the PNC and not retained on DVLA records after 4 years, their effect can be ignored for all practical purposes.  

  
  

While the law sets clear rehabilitation periods for motoring offences including endorsements, their effect is dependent on whether or not they are included on the PNC and thus disclosed on DBS certificates.