Driving Offence Solicitors
Call Freephone 0800 1389 123 Driving Offence Solicitors
request a call back from our driving offence solicitors

TOTTING UP BAN

Geoffrey Miller Solicitors are specialists defending Totting Up Bans for driving. Call our team of expert motoring solicitors for some free initial advice.

totting-up-8-out-of-10-2024

speeding and totting up solicitorsIn case you were not already aware of the “totting up” driving ban rules, 12 points on a UK driver’s licence usually means you will be banned from driving for a minimum period of 6 months. That is unless you persuade the court that such a driving ban would cause you or others “exceptional hardship.”

As if that wasn’t enough bad news, the research we did for our unique money saving calculator suggests your insurance premiums could increase by over 200% if banned for accumulating 12 points or more in a 3 year period. We hate to be the voice of doom and gloom, but if you do receive that dreaded “totting up” ban, you may not even be able to secure an insurance policy once the ban is over. Don’t take our word for it though, check out this forum post on the moneysupertmarket site all about insurance problems after a TT99 ban.

view the sentencing council guidelines

View Sentencing Council Guidelines Totting Up Penalty

Even though the rules state that a driver should be off the road for 6 months, many of our clients who have faced totting up bans have been allowed to continue to drive with well in excess of 12 points on their licence. In fact, we have been involved in some very unusual cases where we have achieved results on the verge of being miraculous! Check out the case of Yanni Tsamplakos, who contacted us desperate for totting up advice. We managed to reinstate his driving licence after he was banned in the Magistrates’ Court and then within days we successfully argued exceptional hardship for him for a second time. Most solicitors would shy away from a case as complex as this. In fact, according to our client, eight solicitors turned him away before he got in touch with us! If you think all hope is lost, this is exactly the kind of case our team loves to win. Don’t take our word for it though, you can contact Yanni directly through our unique interactive testimonial scheme if you click on the page with his story.

Call Us Now on Freephone

0800 1389 123

Or
Request A Call Back

Fill in your name and telephone number and we will call you back.
Rest assured all data transferred on Motoroffence.co.uk is secured using a trusted SSL Certificate.

Please note we only deal with motoring cases in England and Wales and are unable to assist with cases in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

totting up ban solicitors

Jeanette Miller talks to BBC Breakfast News regarding motorists still driving with 12 or more points on their licence due to exceptional hardship.

If you are worried about the prospect of a driving ban, then call our solicitors now! We have offices in London and Manchester and our expert motoring lawyers appear in courts all over the country (excluding Scotland) on Freephone 0800 1389 123. In most cases we get involved in it is highly likely we can save you from the totting ban altogether and all the insurance headaches that follow.

The Totting Up Offence

Despite our amazing totting up result with Yanni’s two totting up cases and countless others the rules that normally apply say that a driver who accumulates 12 penalty points on their licence within a 3 year period will be disqualified from driving as a “a totter” for 6 months. If a driving ban of 56 days or more had also been imposed within the relevant 3 year period, this would increase the ban to 12 months as opposed to a 6 months ban. If two disqualifications of 56 days had been ordered in three years then the disqualification for totting up would be increased to 2 years.

So you could have been caught for 4 fairly minor speeding cases in the last 3 years but find yourself off the road for 6 months if you do not pick up the phone and call Geoffrey Miller Solicitors to see how we can apply our legal expertise to your case!

If you are unsure of how many penalty points you currently have on your licence, this handy page on the DVLA website enables you to check the position.

How Do We Do It?

Geoffrey Miller Solicitors are known for our “no stone unturned” style of case preparation. We analyse who you are and what you do and involve you in the strategy for your hearing at every step of the way – if you want us to! Some clients prefer to have less involvement in the case preparation and we will tailor our service to meet your needs.

We find that for the best chance of avoiding a driving ban, we need to know the “ins and outs” of your circumstances to be able to decide which lines of argument are best utilised in persuading the court to avoid a driving ban. For this reason we take an extremely detailed statement from you at the outset of your points totting up case and then gather further evidence to support your case when in court.

In 2020 the sentencing guidelines have been toughened up to clamp down on drivers whose only mitigation is that they risk losing their job. A consultation was launched due to a perception that it was too easy for motorists facing a totting up ban to argue ‘exceptional hardship’ in court to evade the hefty punishment that road safety champions felt should apply in most cases.

To add clarity to magistrates ruling on such cases, the Sentencing Council ruled that loss of employment following disqualification is not in itself sufficient to demonstrate exceptional hardship, adding that it depends on the individual circumstances of the offender. The reasoning behind this seemingly harsh stance being that loss of employment is an ‘inevitable consequence’ of a driving ban. If you are at risk of losing your job if banned for 6 months, this is something we will need to explore in more detail as to use this aspect of your mitigation, we will need to understand how this would impact on you and others.

Another 2020 development is that the courts will be scrutinising claims that other modes of transport will not be viable for the offender. This requires detailed exploration of the public transport options available to the offender which we do on your behalf as part of our case preparation.

Examples of totting up cases that have been successful have ranged from arguing that a totting up ban would cause a driver’s immediate family exceptional hardship. Other strategies have been where we successfully argued that a client’s employers would be caused exceptional hardship as they would have had to replace the offender if he lost his licence. However, the courts tend to be far less sympathetic towards commercial issues.

One of the most unusual totting up cases we dealt with was where we took over a case from another very well-known motoring law firm who had done the bare minimum on a case yet had charged a small fortune for the little work they did. Unhappy with his “loophole” lawyer’s standard of service, we were instructed to take over the case at the last minute for a Member of Parliament facing a totting up ban. We prepared the case into the early hours of the morning before the hearing and successfully argued that a 6 months ban would cause his constituents exceptional hardship!

An exceptional hardship argument can be made if we can demonstrate that imposing a 6 month disqualification would have such an impact upon the defendant that it would cause them or other people to experience “exceptional hardship”.

One of the main issues that a court will consider is how the driving disqualification will impact on  innocent third parties. The court should also consider whether or not the punishment is proportionate to the offence committed and in some circumstances, the impact of someone losing their licence for 6 months is so extreme that it is no longer proportionate to the offence.

If the Magistrates accept that a 6 months ban, or longer, would cause exceptional hardship then they will still endorse your licence with penalty points (so you may be driving around with 12+ points as with one of our client’s Mr Englander) but they can exercise their discretion in respect of a disqualification. In most cases, they will not impose any period of ban at all but if someone is disqualified under the totting up provisions then their licence is wiped clean of any penalty points. If exceptional hardship is found and NO disqualification is imposed, then the points will remain on your licence until they expire.

Exceptional hardship should only ever be used as a last resort, however, as it can only be run once on the same set of facts in any three year period.

Some Myths about Points Totting Up

Some people mistakenly assume that they can delay a case to circumvent the totting up rules.

For example, if you are on 9 penalty points but have 3 points due to expire soon, delaying the court hearing until after the points have “dropped off” will NOT mean that you will escape disqualification as a totter. The court will look at the number of points that were live on the licence at the time of the most recent offence was committed.

So if you had 9 points that were all less than 3 years old at the time of the latest allegation, it does not matter if it takes a year for your case to come before the court. Your circumstances will be considered from date of offence to date of offence.

Oh, and if you are unsure about how long your penalty points stay on your licence, whilst they will count for the purpose of totting up rules for a period of 3 years, DVLA will not remove the points from your licence until the 4 year anniversary of the date of the offence. And just to confuse matters, your insurers will take into account any endorsements for 5 years.

Special Tactics

Very few clients can cope with the thought of a 6 months driving ban. However, you may be able to cope with a 2 week ban instead?

There is case law that we have successfully used to persuade the Magistrates to impose a short term ban instead of further points that would lead to someone totting*. For example, if on 9 points, we have argued that the defendant should be given a short ban, a couple of weeks is average, and no further penalty points.

*Please note from 01 April 2023 new sentencing guidance was implemented to make the option of a short-term ban for the actual offence more difficult to achieve. However, this is guidance and so it still remains within the court’s discretion to impose a short-term ban.

All of our tactics are lawful and every expert motoring solicitor in the Geoffrey Miller team acts with Rest assured, integrity. If you are thinking that swapping penalty points with a friend of loved one, think again! Check out Jeanette Miller’s blog detailing some crazy solutions drivers thought could get them out of their speeding fine mess… but ended up with them not only losing their licence but also a spell in prison!

Speed Awareness Courses – You May Not Need Us!

Sometimes when clients call us the advice we give is not necessarily going to be of benefit to us but is the best advice for you. It is possible that the offence that may take you to the dreaded 12 points, is a low level speeding allegation that qualifies for an offer of a speed awareness course. The criteria for speed awareness courses differs depending on the location of the speeding allegation, but if you are offered a course this may be far preferable than placing your driving licence in the hands of the courts.

Repeat Totting Up Specialists

Many solicitors mistakenly believe that if you have argued exceptional hardship once, you are prevented by law from doing so again. This is not so and in fact, Geoffrey Miller Solicitors current record stands at saving an anonymous client’s licence FOUR times in three years!

If facing a totting up driving ban for the second, third or even fourth time, we are the firm to speak to.

Totting Up Cost

We will agree a fixed fee for your totting up case so that you have a clear idea of the cost involved from start to finish. Unfortunately, as you are pleading guilty but presenting mitigation to the court, there will be no scope to request any contribution towards your costs from the court. Legal Aid is not available for a totting up case. Please take a look at our page dealing with our charges for more information about payment.

What Do I Do About My Totting Up Case Now?

Once you instruct us we will guide you through the process from that point until you walk out of court (Hopefully with your licence intact) so you no longer feel alone and hopefully you’ll also feel less worried than you do reading this page.

We understand that words on a website may not give you complete reassurance or answer all the questions you have. So if you would prefer to call us rather than trawl through the pages on our website, we are always more than happy to chat things through with potential clients FREE OF CHARGE. It is only once you decide to instruct us that payment will become necessary. Please call us now on Freephone 0800 1389 123. Our team of specialist driving lawyers will be glad to discuss your options free of charge. Our phones are manned 24 hours a day by real lawyers (not in a call centre) all of whom are experts in the field of points totting up and UK motoring law.

VIEW ALL OUR TOTTING UP TESTIMONIALS

†Figures include successful appeals and exclude cases lost that are the subject of appeal as at 18th December 2022.

Not Sure What to Do About Your Totting Up Offence?

Most people who get in touch with our team of motor offence expert solicitors are uncertain of their options. They are unaware of any legal defences that may be available and find it difficult to believe that it might be possible to defend the drink driving offence charge they face by using loopholes that apply to the rich and famous! We do represent celebrities but we also represent many hardworking motorists like Brian and we want to help you make the right choice about what you do next.

We are always more than happy to chat things through with potential clients Free of Charge. Call us now on Freephone 0800 1389 123 to speak to one of our specialist motoring offence solicitors. It is only once you decide to instruct us that payment will become necessary and we can often arrange installment plans to assist you. Many satisfied clients have thanked us for offering this free consultation service as it has prevented them from following inaccurate non-expert advice which could have led to them accepting a driving ban unnecessarily.

If you would like to spend more time browsing on the site before you get in touch, make sure you have a look at our specialist motor offence guidance features such as our drink driving ban calculator which will help you to determine the penalty you may face if convicted and our money saving calculator which helps to outline some of the hidden costs of accepting a conviction.

We think we are simply the best in the business but if you are not satisfied in taking our word for it, our unique “ask our clients” testimonials scheme allows you to contact previous clients of the firm to seek a completely independent reference about us and what we might be able to do for you.

Call Us Now Free on 0800 1389 123

Call Geoffrey Miller Solicitors 24 hours 7 days a week

Geoffrey Miller Solicitors are specialists defending drivers nationwide for all types of driving offences. Call our team of expert driving offence solicitors for some free initial advice.

You can also book an appointment with Jeanette Miller a.k.a. Miss Justice using our online booking system. If Jeanette is unavailable for your preferred date and time you can book an appointment with a member of our legal team. Please have as much information about your enquiry before the call e.g. Date of Hearing, Paperwork etc.

FINANCE AVAILABLE

Get The Help You Need – Instant Decision

To help you purchase from Geoffrey Miller Solicitors, we have partnered with Kandoo, a regulated credit broker to offer all our customers a range of highly flexible finance options. Kandoo is a comparison service that searches to find you the best Personal Loan option that’s right for you.

Powered By
Finance Available

Learn more about our

Finance Options

ASK OUR CLIENTS

Still not sure if you should instruct us to help you?

Try our Interactive Testimonial Scheme - “Ref Me” is a voluntary scheme we ask satisfied clients to participate in. Where you see the “Ask Our Clients” form, you can send an email to a previous client of the firm and ask them any question(s) you like about us.

Ask Now

SPEEDING BAN CALCULATOR

The Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines is a tool used by the Magistrates to decide on penalty. Try our speeding ban calculator or our drink driving ban calculator to give you a rough idea of the penalty you could incur…

Try It Now

SPEEDING COST CALCULATOR

Based on our 2020 market research you can use this form to calculate the likely costs including increased car insurance cost if you were to be convicted for speeding...

Try It Now

TOTTING UP BAN CALCULATOR

The Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines is a tool used by the Magistrates to decide on penalty. Try our totting up ban calculator to see if you are at risk of a driving ban.

Try It Now

CALCULATOR TOOLS

Use our calculator tools to find out what motoring offence penalties or financial costs you could be facing if convicted.

Try It Now

PRICING STRUCTURES

We have developed a number of pricing structures to suit clients on most income levels. To some clients minimising the level of their legal costs is as important as achieving your objective with an acquittal or damage limitation on penalty…

View Pricing

Geoffrey Miller Solicitors is a trading name of Jeanette Miller Law Limited, a Limited Company Registered in England and Wales. Company No: 8214795.
Registered Office: Riverside House Kings Reach Business Park, Yew Street, Stockport, United Kingdom, SK4 2HD.
Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority No: 573314 VAT No:162576593.
Managing Director: Jeanette S. Miller Legal Director: Tara Boyle. View our Website Terms of Use, Privacy and Cookies policy, Accessibility Policy, Personal Indemnity Insurance Policy, Sitemap.
Please note that our calls may be recorded for training and/or contractual purposes.

Geoffrey Miller Solicitors
geoffrey miller solicitors motoring law experts
CALL NOW 7 DAYS A WEEK FREEPHONE 0800 1389 123