Exceptional Hardship Appeal

Totting up

Whenever a motorist reaches a total of 12 penalty points or more on their driving licence, the court will automatically disqualify a person from driving for 6 months. You can persuade the court to not impose a 6-month driving ban if you can successfully argue exceptional hardship. This argument can include reasons why you would suffer hardship. These reasons must be 'exceptional'.

There is no definition of exceptional hardship that the court use so it can often depend on the credibility, strength and evidence surrounding your argument.

You are probably wondering why the court disqualified you even when you had explained what difficulties a 6-month driving ban would cause. 

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Received a driving ban despite arguing exceptional hardship

You may have been disqualified from driving even after arguing exceptional hardship. If this is the case and you are not satisfied with the outcome, you have the right to appeal the Magistrates' decision in a different court. Your appeal would usually be heard at the Crown Court. An appeal at the Crown Court would allow you to have your reasons re-heard. We may explain that your reasons were put forward but the court failed to consider them. It may also be the case that you had evidence which was never reviewed by the court. 

If you have totted up within the last 3 years and successfully argued exceptional hardship, you cannot rely on the same reasons again.

Notice of appeal

You have an automatic right to an appeal which would need to be made within 21 days of the conviction. You would need to obtain the correct paperwork from the Magistrates' court in order to lodge the appeal. This is where you would have to include the reasons for the appeal and give the court formal notice  For example, you may feel that the court imposed an excessive disqualification period or they did not consider something which you mentioned at court. An appeal would usually be heard in the Crown Court. You can usually request that your licence is re-instated whilst you wait for the outcome of your appeal.

You have 21 days to lodge appeal but can apply out of time. Always seek legal advice before appealing. There are always risks involved.

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Drink Driving Appeal Costs 

An important consideration for anyone wanting to appeal is cost. Generally speaking, you do not get legal aid for appeals to the Crown Court. We only charge a fixed fee for the work that we carry out. This is because we believe everyone has the right to specialist affordable legal advice and representation. We do not charge hourly rates.

If you appeal against a totting up ban and you are successful, you are entitled to apply for costs from Central Funds. This is known as a defence costs order (DCO). The purpose of a DCO is to compensate you for the costs you incurred for defending yourself. You can also apply for the Magistrates' Court costs as well. 

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