Most banned drivers automatically receive their licence back following a set period of time
Currently in the UK, only a small number of drivers who’ve received a ban are made to resit their test before having their licence handed back to them.
However, according to a report on road safety carried out by the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, banned motorists should have no option other than to retake their driving test before getting their licence back.
Drivers with a ban more often than not have their licence handed back to them following a set period of time but the report believes that the Government should introduce “more frequent testing on drivers who’ve committed offences.”
Road safety campaigners say banned drivers should have to resit their test © Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
The group’s proposals have received full backing from many senior police figures, including Detective Superintendent Paul Rickett from the Metropolitan Police, who agrees that regular retesting would be extremely valuable.
Also included in the group’s report, is a request for the Government to consider closing the loophole, which stops drivers with 12 or more points on their licence from bypassing a ban by claiming “exceptional hardship”.
Currently in the UK, there are over 8,500 motorists that have 12 or more points on their driving licence, which in reality should mean an automatic ban but they are still behind the wheel and on the roads.
Co-chairwoman of the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, Ruth Cadbury, said: “Threatening behaviour by vehicle drivers towards more vulnerable road users who are on bikes and on foot is routinely tolerated and rarely punished.”
She also added that road police are under-resourced and as a result, many motorists who continue to flout the law on a regular basis, are left to be a nuisance and a danger to other road users.
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