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Leeds Live
Leeds Live
National
Claire Miller & Sebastian McCormick

Leeds' worst drivers revealed as new tool shows how many live near you

One in seven drivers have penalty points on their licences in Leeds with one motorist even having 42, this new tool will help you find out how dangerous the drivers in your area are.

In LS9, which covers Burmantofts, Cross Green, and East End Park, there are 2,124 drivers with at least one penalty point on their licence. That’s 14.3% of the 14,852 registered licence holders in the area, the highest proportion in Leeds.

From next year new rules are coming into place which mean even touching your phone screen could see you hit with up to six penalty points. You will also be subject to a £200 fine.

Read More: Man moves over 5,000 miles to live in Leeds but is left disappointed by 'dirty surroundings and drug use'

In comparison, 6.7% of drivers in LS2, which covers Leeds city centre and Woodhouse, have points on their licence, the lowest proportion in Leeds. Across the whole of the city, 56,393 licence holders have points.

Type in your postcode below to see how your area compares

Penalty points (endorsements) may be issued against a licence when a driver is convicted of a motoring offence. They stay on the driving licence for four or 11 years depending on the offence.

A driver who accumulates six or more penalty points within two years of passing their first driving test will have their licence revoked, meaning they will have to retake their test. A driver may be disqualified from driving if they build up 12 or more penalty points within a period of three years (the ‘totting-up’ process), for a period usually ranging from six months to two years.

Across Leeds, 269 licence holders had at least 12 points on their licence as of February this year, according to the figures published by the DVLA. The licence holder in the area with the highest total of points was someone with 42 in LS9.

One man was hit with a three year driving ban after moving his car 30 yards while over the legal limit in Leeds. Christopher Sheedy was handed the ban as it was his second drink-driving offence in ten years.

After their period of disqualification has been served, drivers can re-apply for their licence. As penalty points stay on the licence for four or 11 years, they may still be there after a period of disqualification when drivers are entitled to drive again.

Drivers can also accumulate more points for driving while disqualified. Both of these things could contribute to drivers having higher numbers of points. Britain’s worst driver has 68 points on their licence - they live in the BN2 postcode in Sussex. There’s another six drivers across the country who have more than 50 points.

Across Britain, 2.7 million registered drivers have points on their licence. - that’s out of 41.1 million full licences and 9.2 million provisional licences.

Drivers in the L24 postcode, which includes Speke in Liverpool and Hale in Halton, are the most likely in Britain to have points on their licence, among postcodes with at least 200 licence holders. One in seven drivers in the area (15.2%) have at least one point.

In comparison, just 0.5% of drivers in N9 in Newport, Wales, have points - or one driver out of 205 locally. Nationally, 6.5% of registered licence holders have incurred points.

The oldest registered licence holder is 108 years old - though the DVLA says having a valid licence doesn’t mean someone is actively driving, resident in the UK or still alive. There is also a provisional licence registered to a 107-year-old.New tool shows you how dangerous the drivers are in your area of Yorkshire

Two 102-year-olds have points on their licence - one with three and the other with four points. At the other end of the age range, two 16-year-olds have points, one with four and one with seven (16-year-olds can hold a licence to drive a moped).

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