Courts are able to impose driving bans on people who commit certain road traffic offences.

The court will decide how long the disqualification will last, based on how serious they think the offence is.

You can be banned from driving if you already have 12 or more penalty points on your licence.

Your ban can last:

  • 6 months, if you get 12 or more penalty points within 3 years
  • 12 months, if you get a second disqualification within 3 years
  • 2 years, if you get a third disqualification within 3 years

Drivers who then flout this ban and are caught behind the wheel will find themselves back before magistrates.

Here are cases dealt with by magistrates this month.

John Simpson, 50, of Ipswich Road, Colchester, admitted driving while disqualified after he was stopped in Ford Street in Aldham on December 12 last year.

At Colchester Magistrates’ Court on May 19 he was made subject of a community order and fined £100.

He was also banned from holding a licence for two years.

Magistrates ordered him to pay a £95 victim services fund and £145 prosecution costs.  

Simpson also admitted driving without insurance but was handed no separate penalty.

Nicholas Gedling, 48, of Kensington Road, Colchester, admitted driving while disqualified after he was stopped in Station Way, in Colchester, on March 28.

 At Colchester Magistrates’ Court on May 19 he was disqualified from driving for six months and fined £120.

Magistrates ordered him to pay a £34 victim services fund and £105 prosecution costs.  

Gedling also admitted driving without insurance but was handed no separate penalty.

Dolly Flockhart, 29, of Lugar Close, Colchester, admitted driving while disqualified after she was stopped in Cowdray Avenue on September 9 last year.

At Colchester Magistrates’ Court in May she was made subject of a community order and fined £120.

She was also banned from holding a licence for 11 months.

Magistrates ordered her to pay a £95 victim services fund and £105 prosecution costs.