how to lose your UK driving licence
Now that you've put in all that hard work to get your driving licence the last thing you'll want to do is lose it. But there are a lot of ways that you might
For many people having a driving licence is an important part of their everyday life — to provide you with personal transport for your travel to and from work or place of study, and for social activities. Some people even still enjoy driving just for the fun of it! For others, having a driving licence is an integral part of their job. If your job involves driving or getting yourself about, then losing your licence can have a devastating effect on your employment.
Points don't mean prizes
Getting points on your licence has become a fact-of-life for many drivers, quite often through fixed-point penalty notices for 'minor' speeding offences, and often obtained by being caught by one of the many speed cameras. This is usually 3 points on your licence and a fine. Getting to 12 points means you will lose your licence for a period of time but you can achieve this much faster by conviction for more serious speeding offences or 'driving without due care and attention' or 'dangerous driving'.
But if you have had your licence for less than 2 years you are at a much greater risk of losing your licence. If you get to 6 points, then your licence will be revoked and you'll have to go back to being a learner and starting all over again. This includes any points you get while you hold a provisional licence. It has been done to encourage new drivers to drive responsibly.
More details of driving penalty points are available at the DirectGov website.
Drink Driving
One of the most common ways of losing your licence is drink driving. It carries a mandatory 12-month driving ban for being above the lower limit but the penalties for being significantly over the lower limit are longer bans and prison sentences. You would also find it increasingly difficult to get car insurance at anywhere near affordable cost - something that no young driver needs to be more expensive!
Many people still think that they can tell when they are safe to drive but without one of the newly available 'breathaliser' gagues they are often wrong. The only way to be safe is not to drink before you drive and to give yourself plenty of time for any alcolhol to work its way out of your system after a night out. It takes about one hour for your body to rid itself of each unit of alcohol, but can take much longer. It depends on factors including how healthy you are and how much you've eaten. Eating a big meal means alcohol is absorbed more slowly - so it takes longer to sober up.
If you want some idea of how long this could take, have a look at the the Morning After website
