So.. Confession time: How many points do you have?

[Split_Pin]

Nil since passing my test in 1996 thankfully, insurance is already dear enough.

 

Fuck knows how though, I did rag my mums Fiesta for the first 4 months of driving plus I did drive the works car at the time with no seatbelt, not tax and mot. They made me do it, guv.

[KruJoe]

Absolutely zero. Seems quite common amongst shite-lovers...

It might be that the cleaner shite-lovers are the ones posting here!

 

FWIW I've not had any points in my 15-plus years on the road, nor any parking tickets. I've been pulled a couple times, but not for owt serious.

[CYANIDE STEVE]

None. The last points I had were in 1992 for doing 45mph in a 30 limit in an Fso Polonez!

[Ross_K]

Print this photo out, and stick it on your dartboard - this man is going to change that.

 

 

NI Environment Minister Alex "I'm not gay but you're making it hard for me" Attwood.<----

 

They'll never get their act together to get that done. Something about some offences not having an equivalent in Ireland vs. UK?

 

The Garda are less forgiving, last time on being informed of clocking a 100mph reading on the spud fanciers hair dryer I pointed out that the speed signs said 100, the turf digger explained ''Dat's kilometers,'' I asked why he was measuring speed in miles then, and the blue shirted bog bouncer seemed quite perplexed.

 

Speed cameras have been outsourced to a private operator, leaving the Gardai free to pursue the heinous crime of people driving without road tax.

Revenue-collecting KUNTS who don't give two shits about road safety.

 

Oh wait, this isn't the Grumpy Old Man thread...

[cheguava]

I have a clean licence...now. Had 3 for doing 94 on the A64 out by York on a quiet clear stratch, and another 3 for taking a short cut down a bus lane, both picked up doing a manic job, not that it excuses me.

 

Been let off a couple of times driving classics when I think they'd have nicked me if I was driving modern tin. Most hilariously, overtaking a police car near Leeds on a dual carriageway in a Beetle with rainbow stripes over the roof instead of pulling me over they used their PA system - " OI - it's 30 along here!" Cue brakes, apologetic wave and smiles all round. That's the trouble with policing by consent though, it doesn't create any stats or revenue.

[catsinthewelder]

None, havn't been caught misbehaving since I passed my test

 

I did get 6 for no insurance while still on L plates though which meant I was very careful after passing my test as another 1 would have been retake time. In fairness I genuinely thought that I was insured, I knew the car wasn't taxed and that it should have L plates though

[RobT]

None. I did get pulled once when I overtook a Fiesta in a 30 (he was doing 20) and I was in a wheezy old Mini. The rozzer had a speed gun and was obscured by a hedge, but couldn't book me as the cars were two abreast so it corrupted the reading. Lucky for me but I 'aint proud of it, I was 20 at the time so was just being a knob.

[HillmanImp]

When I was 17 I got a court summons for driving my Imp at 58 in a 30 but got another letter a few weeks later saying that they let me off with 2 points and a £30 fixed penalty (as I think it was back in 1994).

 

Then about 6 years ago (apologies for those who have read this one before but I like to repeat myself) I got pulled going down the A64 in my Xantia doing 97. Got 3 points and a £60 fixed penalty but as some little scroates had burgled my mates house when I was round and stolen the plastic part of my driving licence I failed my producer and was taken to court and given and extra £300 fine and a extra point. Rather upset about this, I wrote a lenghtly letter to the court by recorded delivery asking for the crime reference of the burglary (the kids had been caught as they were tagged but were let off and we never got anything back) as I was having to pay for what seemed to me like the police and court being unable to do their job properly so therefore it was up to me to take the law into my own hands.

 

About 3 hours after posting the letter I started worrying about what essentially was me sending a threat of violence to the people who burgled the house but to my surprise I got reverted back to 3 points and £60. Result.

 

Now if we are talking about parking tickets. I used to just park anywhere as I changed house/car so often then never tracked me down. I used to just bin them whenever I (frequently) got them. Howver about 3 years ago Leeds council seemed to up their ante a bit when it came to tracing people. I had a debt collector round demanding £500 for just 2 of the many tickets I had run up over the years. Quietly paid up and now live in constant fear that theu are going to piece together all the other ones and track me down.

 

Each time I have been caught speeding I hold my hands up, no point trying to wriggle out of it. You were speeding so fine. However on motorways and dual carriageways I have made up more time by speeding than I have paid out in fines and points etc. If I work out my time at £20 an hour having paid out £90 and maybe £200 extra on insurance for being everywhere a lot quicker for 18 years speeding seems worthwhile. Dont speed on streets with houses/parked cars/things for children to run out from behind but always do so on big roads (assuming the car is fast enough). Dont see the point of going somewhere slowly. I dont enjoy driving on motorways, I just want to get where I am going as soon as possible.

[Hertz]

3 at the moment, overtook a jam sandwich on the M6 doing 80mph never even noticed him!

 

To be fair though I do around 35,000 miles a year so the chances of a lapse in concentration or moment of stupidity are far greater than someone doing a lot less miles per annum in my opinion. So in my mind I'm doing OK!

[Pillock]

None, and never had any since I passed 15 years ago (making me feel a little bit old).

I used to drive like a complete tool, with hindsight dangerously so. A couple of near misses of both the "you're nicked, sonny" and the "I'm sorry, we could only find these bits of him" kind have eased me off, as has quite often driving round with kids in the car.

 

Just got a field based job so I reckon that's my days of being a lunatic numbered. I need my licence, no licence no money - and I also get paid per mile travelled, if I drive gently and average 46mpg (at current diesel prices) I break even

[CreepingJesus]

Had 3 points and £100 from Duns Sherriff Court after going thro' a camera on the A1 at 50mph, when it should have been 40. I went thro' it the night before at near enough 60, and didn't get nabbed. Didn't think it would make much of defence, so I kept my gob shut. Nice hour in the Jim Clark Museum, and laughing at the guy ahead of me who got banned, getting a kicking off his wife.

I don't buy the argument about megamilers necessarily having points on their licences, because it's just complacent thinking. I was in a hurry to meet an unrealistic schedule that night (as I've done scads of times before and since), and made an informed choice. Turned out I was wrong. But I could've had a clean ticket yet, if I'd told the boss to ram his schedule up his arse, and done the job properly. You could do 5 miles a day, or 500, and still fall foul of the law if you choose to interpret it loosely.

I've been good at not getting caught, but I'm never complacent about it .

[Rod/b]

I've received 9 points and 200 quids worth (equivalent) of fines this year alone. For PARKING.

 

However i've also had 3 speeding fines and received no points at all for those. Priorities, anyone?

[Mat.T]

electronic ignition on all my fleet no points on my licence either

[wuvvum]

At the moment my license is clean. Hasn't always been - far from it in fact - but I've somehow managed not to get caught doing anything stupid for quite a while now. Which is surprising, as I have a somewhat heavy right foot, and my current daily (which has been my daily for nearly a year now - getting on for a record) has the ability to reach license-losing speeds in relatively short order.

[cms206]

3 currently - TS10 in a Volvo B10M with no retarder, couldn't stop, threatened with all sorts by Dibble in their VW Transporter who claimed they had to do 70mph in a 30 to catch me - bus only does 48mph flat out so doubted that straight away.

 

3 previously - SP30, 85 in a 70 on the A9 in an automatic Focus with 200 litres of assorted fluids and about 1/4tonne of tools on board heading north to try to bring a Seddon Pennine VII down from Tain. They were at the bottom of the hill, I couldn't slow down...

[Richard]

I'm a bit embarrassed that i don't know when they can come off. It used to be three years, isn't it four now? Mind you, every single insurance company seems to want you to account for the last five years. That and bend over.

 

Points count for 3 years and stay on the licence for four- so it's theoretically possible to have 22 points and still be driving. I passed my test in 1987 and I can't remember a time when insurance companies didn't ask for five years worth of history.

 

I racked up 6 points within a couple of years of passing my test and another 6 soon after the first lot expired. Since then I've managed to stay out of trouble. I doubt it will last though, I'm forever getting caught out by the random speed limits that are popping up everywhere and it's only a matter of time before there's a camera at one of them.

[AeroNautiCal]

None, never had any!

[willswitchengage]

None + one speed awareness course or "BNP anonymous" as the instructor liked to relate his right wing views to every point he discussed.

[wackywacerwill]

Zero for me too. Just saying no to plastic rocket sports bikes has helped a lot though a large element of luck is also involved.

 

I got myself 6 points for 72 in a 30 in the first week of big bike ownership after upgrading from dtr 125 to a 600 ninja Not had any in a car... yet.

[Largactil]

Been the lucky recipient of x2 SP30's over the past 18 years...

 

1. Back in 2002, got stupidly baited into a game of motorway 'chicken' with a Fezza F355 -i.e. See who's willing to maintain a three figure speed for longest.

 

When he suddenly backed off, I exited the M Way a few junctions later, screaming round a few roundabouts on my door handles to celebrate my 'victory', before noticing the fully marked up Volvo T5 that had become welded to my rear bumper. Despite my dickhead driving 'skillz', I was sufficiently humble enough to take my deserved telling off...And not whoop too loudly when they confessed that they didn't get a VASCAR reading till the end, which was only 92mph - "Would I like a fixed penalty of 3 points / £60?" - Yes please...

 

2. Summer afternoon, 2007 - Maintaining a steady 78mph on a dual carriageway -In lane 2, Overtaking a lorry.

 

Myopic person in lane 1 closing quickly on the aforementioned lorry awakes from their coma as my front bumper is level with their rear, and slams on the brakes, and begins to drift into lane 2. (I had anticipated this, and had lifted...But this just seemed to make them dither further).

 

Rather than slam on the anchors to let them out (would have needed to shed 20mph+, with a fairly heavy prod of the middle pedal), I accelerate instead. It's a long sweeping uphill left hander, and as I pass the lorry I spot a scamera van parked in a layby 800yds ahead. Hammer the brakes, but it's too late. Letter arrives stating "80mph in a 70". 3 points / £60, and unlike the previous time, a strong feeling that I've been mugged.

 

All clear now, though...

[ProgRocker]

In 2008 got caught by a GATSO doing 37 mph in a 30 mph zone. In my fairly gutless SEAT Ibiza 1.4. Was sent on the Driver's Awareness course, cost £70, to keep the points off my licence.

[trigger]

I worse I've had was a SP30 back in 1999 whilst trying to impressed two girls on the way to Macdonalds in my old Escort Eclipse, I was doing 48 in a 30 through a small village with a car right up my arse which was encouraging me to go quicker.

 

Unfortunately the said car was a copper who promptly pulled me over, He was alright though to be fair and i was speeding, Oh and i did get chased 3 mile buy a police car once with all it's lights going after i drove through a police road side stop and search because i wasn't aware that a copper waving a torch about meant stop.

[Angrydicky]

None. One Speed Awareness course though (caught in a mobile speed trap doing 38 in a 30).

[Lord Sterling]

Had a TS10 a few years back.

[myglaren]

Six, 3 for an SP30 picked up on what up to then had been a 40 mph road, signs obscured by buses, 37mph.

3 for and sp40 on what had previously been a 60mph dual carriageway, a downhill s-bend that most (tourists) crept up and down at 30 and I generally did at 60.

Clear road but apparently a hidden mobile camera, no indication of it's presence.

2 coppers were done a few days later but let off.

Also the signage turned out not to comply with then current regulations.

 

This was several years ago now (about ten or twelve) but I haven't yet got round to having the points eradicated from the licence.

[wackywacerwill]

Had a TS10 a few years back.

 

Had to look that one up;

TS10 =Failing to comply with traffic light signals

 

I always treat red lights as advisory TBH though I've learnt the hard way to double check the mirrors and these days scan for cameras too.

[barefoot]

none, for a very long time.

[rml2345]

None so far, but probably some soon as I drifted through a red light at Haymarket the other day whilst trying to work out where the diversion went this week...