Driving Licence Endorsements Explained: Points & Codes

At a glance

• Display period for most endorsements: 4 years from the date of the offence (SP, CU, IN, CD10–CD33 and most other codes).
• Display period for dangerous/reckless driving and disqualifications: 4 years from the date of conviction (DD codes, BA40, BA60, TT99 and any endorsement accompanied by a disqualification).
• Display period for serious drink and drug offences: 11 years from the date of conviction (DR10, DR20, DR30, DR31, DR61, DR80, DG10, DG60 and CD40–CD70).
• Totting period (points that count towards the 12-point threshold): section 29 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 — only points from offences committed within 3 years of the current offence are included.
• Totting-up threshold: 12 or more points within the 3-year window normally triggers a minimum 6-month disqualification under section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.
• New drivers: 6 or more points within 2 years of passing your first test means automatic licence revocation under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995, s.2. No exceptional hardship argument is available.
• 11-year endorsements and insurer visibility: GOV.UK confirms these are visible to insurers and employers during the first 5 years only (or the first 30 months if you were under 18 at the time of conviction).

What is a driving licence endorsement?

An endorsement is a formal record of a road traffic conviction or accepted fixed penalty, held electronically on your DVLA driving record. It has two parts: an offence code — a letter-and-number combination such as SP30 or DR10 — and a number of penalty points, ranging from 1 to 11 depending on the seriousness of the offence.

Endorsements are not printed on the plastic photocard licence. They are stored on the DVLA database and are visible to you, to insurers, and to employers through the view or share your driving licence information service on GOV.UK. That service lets you generate a temporary share code — valid for 21 days — which a hire company or employer can use to check your record without receiving your full details.

This guide covers England and Wales. Some rules differ in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The two time periods every driver must understand

The single most important thing to grasp about endorsements is that there are two separate time windows, and they carry deliberately different lengths:

• The display period is how long the endorsement appears on your driving record. For most offences it is 4 years; for the most serious drink and drug offences it is 11 years. After this period ends, the endorsement drops off your record automatically — you do not need to apply.
• The totting period is how long points from a given offence can count in a court's totting-up calculation. Under section 29 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, points from offences committed more than 3 years before the current offence are not taken into account.

A typical SP30 speeding endorsement is displayed on your record for 4 years but only counts towards the 12-point threshold during the first 3 of those years. In year 4 the endorsement is still visible — to you and to insurers — but those points no longer accumulate towards a disqualification.

Getting these numbers mixed up is the most common mistake drivers make when working out where they stand. The display period matters for insurance disclosure and employment; the totting period determines whether you are at risk of a ban.

A note on 11-year endorsements and insurer visibility

For serious drink and drug offences (DR10, DR20, DR30, DR31, DR61, DR80, DG10, DG60 and CD40–CD70), the endorsement stays on your record for 11 years from the date of conviction. GOV.UK confirms that for these endorsements the record is visible to third parties such as insurers and employers during the first 5 years only — or during the first 30 months if you were under 18 at the time of conviction. After that point the endorsement remains on the DVLA database for the full 11 years (and GOV.UK describes it as "valid" — meaning a court can still take it into account — for the first 10 of those 11 years) but it will not appear in a standard share-code check.

The retention periods for all endorsements are set by section 45A of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 (inserted from 1 April 2009 by the Road Safety Act 2006, which repealed the original section 45 with effect from 8 June 2015).

Understanding endorsement codes

Each type of offence has its own code, derived from Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. The code appears on your driving record next to the number of points awarded. The authoritative full list is published by GOV.UK at endorsement codes and penalty points (last substantively updated by DVLA: May 2026). The main groups you are likely to encounter are:

| Group | Codes | Offence category | Display period | |-------|-------|-----------------|----------------| | AC | AC10–AC30 | Accident offences (failure to stop / report) | 4 years from date of offence | | BA | BA10, BA30 | Driving while disqualified | 4 years from date of offence | | BA | BA40, BA60 | Causing death / serious injury while disqualified | 4 years from date of conviction | | CD | CD10–CD33 | Careless driving | 4 years from date of offence | | CD | CD40–CD70 | Causing death: drink or drug | 11 years from date of conviction | | CD | CD80, CD90 | Causing death by careless or unlicensed driving | 4 years from date of conviction | | CU | CU10–CU80 | Construction and use (includes mobile phones) | 4 years from date of offence | | DD | DD10–DD90 | Dangerous and reckless driving | 4 years from date of conviction | | DG | DG10, DG60 | Drug-driving (drive/attempt / death by careless) | 11 years from date of conviction | | DG / DR | DG40, DR90 | Drug-driving: in charge of a vehicle | 4 years from date of offence or conviction | | DR | DR10–DR31, DR61 | Drink-driving (drive/attempt / specimen refusal) | 11 years from date of conviction | | DR | DR40–DR70 | Drink-related: in charge / fail to provide | 4 years from date of offence or conviction | | DR | DR80 | Driving unfit through drugs | 11 years from date of conviction | | IN | IN10 | Using a vehicle uninsured | 4 years from date of offence | | SP | SP10–SP50 | Speed limit offences | 4 years from date of offence | | TS | TS10–TS70 | Traffic signs and signals | 4 years from date of offence | | TT | TT99 | Totting-up disqualification marker | 4 years from date of conviction |

The DD group carries the 4-years-from-conviction treatment because every code in it corresponds to a dangerous or reckless driving offence under sections 1, 1A, 2, 3ZC or 3ZD of the Road Traffic Act 1988 — the specific offences section 45A(4) RTOA 1988 singles out for that longer conviction-anchored clock, distinct from most other 4-year codes which run from the date of the offence itself.

Common codes in detail

SP30 (exceeding the statutory speed limit on a public road) is the most frequently issued endorsement. It carries 3 to 6 penalty points and is displayed for 4 years from the date of the offence. The minimum fixed penalty for speeding is a £100 fine and 3 points (verify current rates at GOV.UK speeding penalties). See our guide on speeding tickets and penalties for the full range of outcomes by speed band.

CU80 (breach of requirements as to control of the vehicle — the code for hand-held mobile phone offences): carries 3 to 6 penalty points and is displayed for 4 years from the date of the offence. The fixed penalty for this offence is £200 and 6 points (check GOV.UK for current rates). From 25 March 2022, the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 widened the offence to cover any use of a hand-held device capable of sending or receiving data — not just interactive communication. GOV.UK guidance and the amending regulations confirm this now catches illuminating the screen, checking the time or notifications, unlocking the device, taking or viewing a photo or video, and accessing an app or the internet, in addition to calls and messages. There is one narrow carve-out: regulation 110(5B) of the 1986 Construction and Use Regulations, inserted by the 2022 amendment, permits using a hand-held device to make a contactless payment — but only while the vehicle is stationary. If you are a new driver, a single CU80 fixed penalty alone is enough to trigger licence revocation.

DR10 (driving or attempting to drive with alcohol level above the limit): one of the most serious common codes. It carries 3 to 11 penalty points, but almost always triggers a mandatory court disqualification as well. The display period is 11 years from the date of conviction, meaning it remains on your DVLA record for over a decade. However, it is visible to insurers and employers only during the first 5 years (see above). See our guide on drink-driving offences for the full consequences.

IN10 (using a vehicle uninsured against third-party risks): carries 6 to 8 penalty points and is displayed for 4 years from the date of the offence. Beyond the endorsement, police have power to seize an uninsured vehicle at the roadside. See our guide on driving without insurance.

DD40 (dangerous driving): carries 3 to 11 penalty points and stays on your record for 4 years from the date of conviction. Courts will almost always impose a period of disqualification alongside the endorsement for this offence.

Codes for helping someone else commit an offence

GOV.UK sets out three variants for secondary involvement in a motoring offence — all result in the same penalty points as the primary offence:

• Aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring (helping someone commit the offence): the final 0 in the code changes to 2. For example, IN10 becomes IN12 on your record.
• Causing or allowing someone to commit the offence: the final 0 becomes 4 (e.g. IN14).
• Encouraging or persuading someone to commit the offence: the final 0 becomes 6 (e.g. IN16).

How totting up works

"Totting up" is the disqualification that follows when a driver accumulates too many penalty points in a short period. It operates under section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.

The 12-point rule

If the total of penalty points to be taken into account reaches 12 or more, the court must normally disqualify the driver. The key question is which points count — only points from offences committed within the 3-year totting window are included under section 29 RTOA 1988. Points outside that window are still displayed on the record but do not contribute to the threshold.

The minimum disqualification period depends on prior disqualifications:

• No relevant previous disqualification: minimum 6 months
• One previous disqualification of 56 days or more within 3 years: minimum 1 year
• Two or more such previous disqualifications: minimum 2 years

Exceptional hardship

A court may reduce or avoid a totting-up ban if the driver can prove exceptional hardship — but the bar is high. The Sentencing Council is explicit that ordinary inconvenience, including the basic loss of a licence, does not qualify. Hardship to others who depend on the driver — for example, vulnerable family members, or employees who would lose their jobs as a result — can qualify, but must be evidenced and sworn before the magistrates. The driver carries the burden of proof to the civil standard (balance of probabilities).

The court must be satisfied the hardship is not merely inconvenient but genuinely exceptional. Evidence that loss of employment would follow from disqualification is not, in itself, sufficient; the court will look at whether alternatives — including alternative transport — are available. The Sentencing Council's guidance also notes that a court can take into account whether the driver continued offending after already becoming aware of the risk to their licence.

Critically, the same circumstances cannot generally be relied upon again within a 3-year period. A court considering a second totting disqualification can take into account that the same grounds were already used to avoid an earlier ban.

If you are approaching 12 points or already facing a totting-up hearing, the outcome depends heavily on the quality and credibility of evidence presented. See our detailed guide on totting-up bans.

Worked example: Ahmed's points arithmetic

Ahmed, a fictional driver, already has 9 live penalty points on his record: three separate SP30 (speeding) endorsements, each from offences committed within the past 26 months, all still within the 3-year totting window. He is then convicted of a further SP30 and given 3 more points.

9 (existing, all within 3 years) + 3 (new) = 12 points.

All four offences fall within the same 3-year totting window under section 29 RTOA 1988, so all 12 points count. The court must normally disqualify Ahmed for at least 6 months unless he can establish exceptional hardship.

Now consider a variation: one of Ahmed's earlier endorsements was from an offence committed 37 months ago — just over 3 years before the date of the latest offence. That older endorsement is still displayed on his record, but it no longer counts for totting purposes. His running total for the 3-year window would be 6 points + 3 new points = 9 points — below the threshold, and no totting disqualification follows.

The exact dates of each offence matter enormously. A single month's difference can determine whether a driver is disqualified or not.

The new-driver rule: stricter for the first two years

New drivers face a stricter regime under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995. If you accumulate 6 or more penalty points within 2 years of passing your first practical driving test, your licence is automatically revoked by the DVLA.

This is not a court disqualification — it is an administrative revocation. There is no totting-up hearing, no exceptional hardship argument, and no judicial discretion to reduce the outcome. The 2-year probationary period starts when you pass your test, not when your full licence arrives in the post.

Points from your provisional licence count

Any penalty points earned while you held a provisional licence, and which have not yet expired, carry over to your full licence when you pass your test. If those carried-over points, combined with any new points earned after passing, reach 6 or more within the 2-year probationary period, your full licence is revoked. The DVLA can revoke the licence without prior warning — there is no requirement for the police or the courts to alert you in advance that a further endorsement will trigger revocation.

Example: Fatima, a fictional new driver, received a 3-point SP30 endorsement while on her provisional licence eight months before passing her test. That endorsement carried over to her full licence. Six months after passing, she received a further 3-point SP30. Her total is 6 points within the 2-year period. Her full licence is revoked. She must re-apply for a provisional licence and pass both the theory and practical tests again before driving unsupervised.

Note also that a CU80 mobile phone offence fixed penalty — which carries 6 points — is alone sufficient to trigger revocation for a new driver on a clean record. This is one reason the 2022 extension of the mobile phone offence scope matters disproportionately for new drivers.

If revoked, a driver reverts to learner conditions — L-plates, no motorway driving, and an accompanying qualified driver — until both tests are passed again. See our dedicated guide on special laws for new drivers.

Fixed penalty versus going to court

Many endorsable offences are resolved by accepting a fixed penalty notice (FPN), avoiding a court appearance. For a standard speeding offence, the minimum fixed penalty is a £100 fine and 3 points (check GOV.UK speeding penalties for current rates, as these are subject to change). Accepting an FPN is an admission of the offence; the endorsement goes on your record in the normal way.

If you reject the fixed penalty, or the offence is too serious for one, the case goes to court. At court, fines are calculated by reference to the offender's relevant weekly income under the Sentencing Council's fine band structure (Band A: 25–75%; Band B: 75–125%; Band C: 125–175%, with a higher starting point for the most excessive speeds), up to a statutory maximum of £1,000 on most roads and £2,500 on a motorway. The court also has wider powers: it can impose a discretionary disqualification instead of, or in addition to, points, particularly for higher-speed offences.

For lower-level speeding offences, the police may offer a speed awareness course. If you are eligible and complete it, you receive no points and no endorsement. Eligibility is at police discretion — it is not a right and cannot be demanded — and you are not eligible if you have attended a course within the past 3 years.

Practical consequences of an endorsement

Insurance

You must disclose endorsements to your insurer when asked — at the time you take out a policy and at each renewal. Failing to disclose, or misrepresenting what you hold, can void your cover and leave you effectively uninsured. Most policies ask for endorsements within the past 3 or 5 years; check the exact disclosure window in your policy documents.

The premium effect varies significantly by code. A single minor SP30 typically has a modest impact. A CU80 for mobile phone use (6 points) or an IN10 (uninsured driving) can cause substantial increases. A DR10 (drink-driving) can make insurance very expensive or, with some mainstream insurers, temporarily unobtainable — specialist brokers serve this market. See our guide on getting car insurance with points.

For 11-year endorsements, bear in mind that while GOV.UK confirms visibility to insurers only during the first 5 years, your policy's own disclosure window may extend further — always answer the question asked on the proposal form accurately, even if the endorsement would no longer appear in a DVLA share-code check.

Employment and professional licences

Whether you must inform your employer depends on your role and contract. Anyone who drives for work, holds a professional vocational licence (HGV, PSV, taxi), or has a clean-licence clause in their contract will usually have an explicit duty to disclose. Failure to do so can be grounds for dismissal, independently of the endorsement itself.

Many employers run periodic DVLA checks using the share-code service. If you work in a safety-critical environment, note also that a traffic commissioner can revoke or restrict a vocational licence on the basis of endorsements even where a criminal court has not disqualified the driver.

DBS checks

Routine DVLA points and endorsements do not appear on a standard or enhanced DBS check as endorsements. However, serious driving offences that resulted in a criminal conviction — particularly where a custodial sentence was imposed — can appear on a DBS check as convictions under the standard filtering rules under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. A fixed penalty notice is not a conviction for DBS purposes and will not appear.

Vehicle hire and driving abroad

Hire companies routinely ask for a share code to check your DVLA record before letting you take a vehicle. High points or certain codes — especially DR and DG codes — can result in a refused hire or require an additional deposit. If you drive in EU countries, the UK-EU mutual recognition framework means UK endorsement information may be accessible to law enforcement in EU member states.

What to do if you have an endorsement

1. Check your DVLA record. Use view or share your driving licence information to confirm which codes and points you hold, the date of each offence, and when each endorsement will drop off.
2. Work out your totting position. Count only points from offences committed within the past 3 years under section 29 RTOA 1988. If your live total is approaching 9 points, a single 3-point endorsement could reach the threshold — take that seriously.
3. Disclose to your insurer. Check your policy's disclosure window and ensure your insurer has accurate, current information. Proactive disclosure is always safer than waiting to be asked.
4. Check your employment obligations. Read your contract carefully and, if you drive for work, speak to HR. The duty to disclose is often in the fine print and can apply even where no disqualification follows.
5. Track the drop-off date. Note when each endorsement's display period ends — both for insurance (which usually cares about the last 3–5 years) and for any ongoing employment disclosure obligation.
6. If you have a 11-year endorsement, note the 5-year insurer visibility window. The endorsement will not appear in a share-code check after 5 years (or 30 months for under-18s), but check whether your insurer's proposal form asks a broader question before assuming you need not mention it.
7. Take advice early if you are at risk. If you are approaching 12 points, facing a totting-up hearing, or your endorsement has serious employment consequences, speaking to a legal adviser at an early stage gives you the best chance of understanding and protecting your position.

This guide provides general information about how driving licence endorsements work in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The law described was accurate as at August 2026 and is subject to change — always check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the most current position.

Last reviewed: August 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: August 2027 or on legislative change.