The New Drivers Act: 6 points in 2 years

The Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995 imposes a 2-year probation period that runs from the date you pass your first practical driving test. Reach 6 or more penalty points on your licence inside that window and the DVLA revokes it automatically — no court process, no warning, no appeal. To drive again you must apply for a fresh provisional licence and pass both the theory and practical tests again.

You can get 6 penalty points and a £200 fine if you hold and use a phone, sat nav, tablet, or any device that can send and receive data while driving or riding a motorcycle. You’ll also lose your licence if you passed your driving test in the last 2 years.

Who the Act applies to

Every driver who passed their first practical driving test on or after 1 June 1997. The probation period runs for 2 years from the test pass date, regardless of when you actually receive the physical full licence. It applies to drivers across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

It’s tied to your first licence category, not to each new category. If you passed a car test in 2023 and then qualify as an HGV driver in 2025, the HGV pass does not start a new probation period — the original 2-year window simply ends at its scheduled date. Equally, if your first test was a motorcycle test, the probation runs from that pass.

The 6-point threshold

Outside of the probation period, the general totting-up rule is 12 points within 3 years for a “totting-up” disqualification, decided by a court. The New Drivers Act halves that threshold to 6 points — and the consequence is administrative revocation rather than a court-imposed ban.

The 6 points can come from any combination of endorsable offences whose offence dates fall inside the probation period. They can come from one single 6-point offence, or two 3-point offences, or any other combination that meets or exceeds the threshold.

How automatic revocation works

The DVLA monitors penalty-point totals against the New Drivers register. When a 6-point total is recorded against a driver still inside their 2-year probation, the DVLA issues a revocation notice. There is no court hearing, no police involvement at the revocation stage, and no appeal route to the DVLA.

The licence is treated as revoked from the date on the DVLA notice. Continuing to drive after that date is driving while disqualified — an arrestable offence with severe penalties of its own.

Your licence will be cancelled (revoked) if you get 6 or more penalty points within 2 years of passing your driving test.

Single offences that meet the threshold on their own

Several common offences carry 6 or more points as a fixed penalty — committing any one of them inside the 2-year window is enough to revoke a new driver’s licence.

Drink and drug driving offences sit outside the New Drivers Act because they trigger a court disqualification of at least 12 months on their own, not a points-based revocation.

Smaller offences that add up

Two or three smaller incidents inside the probation period can also trigger revocation. The most common pattern is two speeding tickets:

• Speeding (SP30): typically 3–6 points and a £100 fixed penalty per offence. Two SP30 tickets at 3 points each meet the 6-point threshold.
• Careless driving (CD10): 3–9 points, court decided.
• Using a vehicle in dangerous condition (CU20): 3 points and a fixed penalty.

Provisional licence points carry over

Any penalty points on your provisional licence that have not yet expired are carried onto your full licence the day you pass — and they count toward the 6-point New Drivers Act threshold during probation.

A practical example: a learner is caught speeding during lessons and accepts a 3-point fixed penalty. They pass their practical six months later. A single 3-point speeding offence after passing is now enough to push the total to 6 and trigger revocation, even though no single offence carried 6 points.

How to get back on the road

There is no early-restart option, no quick re-take after revocation, and no fast-track for drivers who have only just lost their licence. The DVSA process is identical to a first-time applicant:

1. Apply for a new provisional licence at gov.uk/apply-first-provisional-driving-licence . Cost: £34 online, or £43 by post.
2. Drive on the provisional only with L-plates and a qualified accompanying driver (over 21, full UK licence for at least 3 years). You cannot drive on motorways while learning.
3. Take and pass the theory test again at gov.uk/book-theory-test . Cost: £23 for car or motorcycle.
4. Take and pass the practical driving test again. Cost: £62 weekday, £75 evenings, weekends and bank holidays.

Minimum DVSA fees: £34 + £23 + £62 = £119 before instructor fees, lessons, vehicle rental for the test, or insurance.

The original penalty points stay on your driving record — they don’t reset just because the licence was revoked. They are removed on their normal expiry schedule (typically 4 years from the offence date for most endorsements; 11 years for drink/drug offences). A new probation period does not start on the new full licence after this re-pass — the New Drivers Act applies once.

Can the revocation be appealed?

The DVLA revocation itself cannot be appealed — it is an administrative consequence, not a judicial decision. What you can appeal is the underlying conviction or fixed-penalty acceptance that pushed you over 6 points. If you believe a Fixed Penalty Notice was wrongly issued, the time to challenge it is before you accept the points — typically by electing to be tried in court. Once the points are recorded, the New Drivers Act consequence follows automatically.

If the points came from a court conviction, you can appeal that conviction to a higher court (Crown Court for a magistrates’ conviction). A successful appeal that removes the points below the 6-point threshold can reverse the revocation, but this is a slow and uncertain route.

Common misconceptions

“It’s the same as the regular 12-point totting-up rule.”

No. Outside the probation period, totting up requires 12 points in 3 years and is decided by a court, which can refuse disqualification on “exceptional hardship” grounds. The New Drivers Act revocation is administrative — no court, no hardship arguments.

“I’ve already been driving for a year, so I’m almost out of probation.”

The 2 years run from your practical test pass date, not from when you applied for or received your full licence. Check the issue date on your photocard against your test pass date — they may differ.

“The points won’t count because the court date is after my 2-year window ends.”

They will. The Act looks at the date of the offence, not the date of conviction or fixed-penalty acceptance. An offence committed on the last day of probation that is concluded a year later still triggers revocation if it pushes the total to 6.

“I can just take a speed awareness course to avoid the points.”

A speed awareness course is only offered if the police decide it is appropriate for the offence, and only if you have not been on one in the past 3 years. They are never offered as an alternative to a 6-point single-offence endorsement (a hand-held phone, for example), so they cannot save a new driver from a single 6-point hit. For minor speeding tickets that would otherwise be 3 points, a course can keep your point total below the New Drivers Act threshold — but it remains the police force’s call, not the driver’s.

Sources

• legislation.gov.uk — Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995 (the underlying statute)
• GOV.UK — Penalty points (endorsements): new drivers
• GOV.UK — Endorsement codes and penalty points
• GOV.UK — Using a phone, sat nav or other device when driving
• GOV.UK — Apply for your first provisional driving licence (£34 / £43)
• GOV.UK — Driving test cost (theory £23, practical £62 / £75)
• GOV.UK — Speeding penalties