And it seems males are more likely to do it than females…
According to new research, a staggering 19% of motorists admit to taking penalty points for another person even though they didn’t do anything wrong themselves.
The study found that one in five drivers have taken penalty points for another person and it seems as though male drivers are more likely to do it than females – 28% of men admitted to taking points for another person, whilst just 10% of women confessed to doing the same.
Taking penalty points for someone else usually involves asking a friend or relative to falsely claiming that they were driving to cover up and protect the real offender but what many motorists in the UK don’t probably know is that doing so could land you in serious trouble with the law.
You could be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice and the maximum penalty is a life sentence! However, the average sentence handed out tends to be around 10 months.
Out of those taking part in the survey who admitted taking points, a whopping 49% confessed to doing so for their partner and the biggest reason given by the ones taking the points was that they thought their insurance would not be affected by the penalty, whereas 23% said they did so to stop the true offender from possibly losing their driving licence.
Director of the RAC Foundation, Steve Gooding, said that the practice of taking points for someone else was “flawed”, adding that “front-facing cameras also mean that often there is clear evidence of who was actually driving”.
The survey was commissioned by the Co-op, who quizzed 2,000 adults about the practice. Head of motor insurance Nick Ansley commented on the figures saying they were “surprised and quite concerning”, also adding that those who commit the offence are “putting themselves and others at risk.”
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