Practical information & advice
Irrespective of the conviction that you receive for your driving offence (for example a driving ban, a fine or a prison sentence etc) it’s likely that your driving licence will also be endorsed.
Endorsements for road traffic offences take 5 years to become spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) (2.5 years if you’re under 18 at the time).
Read our latest news posts about motoring offences
Information
Here you’ll find links to various parts of this site where we have information and useful resources relating to motoring offences
I’ve got motoring convictions – what do I need to know?
It’s important to know that motoring convictions often result in an endorsement on your licence. The changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act in 2014 did not affect motoring endorsements, which still take five years to become spent. For more information:
Is it possible for a third party, for example a car hire company or my employer, to get details of my driving conviction?
Yes. If you give your consent, they can access your licence through the DVLA’s Shared Driving Licence Service. For more information:
I recently received a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for speeding. Will this show up on a basic criminal record check?
It’s unlikely. Technically, a FPN for speeding is an offence under Schedule 2 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 and, in line with section 58 of that Act, the endorsement will be treated as having been given in court and is subject to the 5 year rehabilitation period. However, FPN’s are rarely recorded on the Police National Computer as part of ‘convictions and cautions’, which is what is used to determine what is disclosed on a basic check. For more information:
Once my motoring conviction is spent, will it be removed from my driving licence?
Not necessarily. The length of time that motoring offences stay on your licence is governed by road traffic legislation which is entirely separate to the time it takes for it to be spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. For more information:
I’ve just received a motoring conviction, where can I get motor insurance?
Mainstream insurers will ask about motoring convictions for motor insurance. That means that until your conviction becomes spent, you may need to use the services of an insurance broker. For more information:
Will my motoring offence cause me a problem with my house insurance?
If it’s unspent then it might do. Some household insurers ask about all convictions, including motoring offences. For more information:
Advice
Here you’ll find some of the common advice we give on motoring offences. This is based on what we’ve learnt as a charity, as well as the real-life experiences of people with convictions.
- Be clear about when your conviction will become spent. If you receive an endorsement to your licence, you may find that your conviction will take longer to become spent than you might think.
- Our list of brokers are generally able to help people with motoring convictions to get motor insurance.
Frequently asked questions
Here you’ll find some questions that we regularly get about motoring offences and the answers we generally provide. More detailed FAQ’s are included in the information pages above.
It’s likely that your DR10 would have resulted in an endorsement on your licence. This means your conviction would be spent in November 2015 as the endorsement has the longest rehabilitation period. You can check this on our disclosure calculator.
Useful links
Here you’ll find links to useful organisations and websites related to motoring offences that we refer to in our information and advice. Contact details can be found here.
- DVLA – The government agency responsible for maintaining a database of drivers in Great Britain and a database of vehicles in the UK.
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