Record 45 points on driving licence

A driver from Liverpool has broken the record for clocking up the most points on a driving licence.

The man, still on the roads, accumulated 45 points breaking the previous record of 42, according to the figures released by the DVLA.

The points were all for failing to disclose the identity of the driver or speeding between October 2012 and June 2013.

Under the totting up system, drivers are normally banned if they reach 12 points over a three-year period but thousands of drivers are well over the threshold and are still allowed behind the wheel.

The second-highest driver was a man from Warrington who scored 36 points after being caught without insurance six times in less than two weeks in February 2012.

Failing to give the identity of the owner, speeding, and driving uninsured were the most common reasons for having a licence endorsed.

And men are more likely to flout the law with just three women drivers in the top 20 licence-points holders. One female motorist from Hull hit 31 points after being caught speeding eight times in two months.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) uncovered the statistics through a Freedom of Information request.

IAM chief executive Simon Best said they had been promised more would be done after the revelation last September that one motorist had 42 points and was still driving.

He said: “Incredibly, we now have someone driving with 45 points. DVLA must rapidly overall their systems and working relationships with the courts to ensure that the whole principle of 12 points and you are off the road is not undermined.

"Any suggestion that some drivers may be able to speed with impunity and then talk themselves out of a ban puts our whole approach to enforcement into question."