Can you get points on a UK license in Ireland?

Terrontress

Victor wrote:

Well a certain PSNI Chief Superintendent with responsibility for rural traffic policing says otherwise.

Who is this Chief Superintendent? I thought the top man in traffic up there is a Chief Inspector Hogg. He is often on the BBC Northern Ireland news.

And how will they store this information?

Based on your numberplate / address / driver number/ name / DOB?

It would be difficult to do so for the address of another jurisdiction. It may be another matter for people from ROI with an ROI license living in the UK. But not with addresses in the Republic.

The whole reason behind penalty points is to act as a deterrent. That is why they are so well publicised. Is it not strange to implement a system which would require large investment, monitoring and updating and then to keep completely quiet about it?

TommyK

24galwayguy wrote:

if they keep them on file, do they also take them off after 3 years?

Nope, if you get points on a foreign licence, and subsequently convert it to (or apply for) an Irish licence, the points will be applied from the date that Irish licence becomes valid.

If you accumulate enough points to be disqualified, then you will be allowed to convert your foreign licence (or apply for an Irish licence) but it won't be supplied to you until after the period of disqualification has expired.

Incidentally, there are circumstances where citizens of other E.U. states who are living here can be disqualified from driving here because of actions in that state, and vice-versa. (e.g. Section 9 of RTA 2002).

Also, the Gardai can ask the Courts to issue a special disqualification order for ANYONE in the State if they suspect they may be incompetent to drive any class of vehicle. This will result a disqualification that won't be lifted until they undergo a driving test in whatever category is concerned. (See Section 28 of RTA 1961).

Thus, if you are a foreign driving licence holder who accumulated enough penalty points to be disqualified, and were then subject to a special disqualification order (on whatever the basis for that might be), unless successfully appealed, you would likely have to apply for a provisional licence (not the same thing as a driving licence, btw), apply for an Irish driving test, and, if you pass it, be disqualified for a further 6 months under Section 3 of the RTA 2002... and it would serve you bloody right too . Also, anyone attracting that kind of attention, shouldn't expect the usual non-enforcement of the terms applying to provisional licences either.

Tommy.

quarryman

what about:

I have accumlated 4 points on my provisional irish licence (I passed my test but haven't applied for my full licence yet and my provisional has expired).

When are the points applied?

Hotblack Desiato

I would guess that if your licence (provisional or full) was expired, then the three-year validity of the points would stop counting down, until you renew your licence again. (In effect they'd be frozen during your period with no licence.)

If you're not driving at the moment, if you renew your prov. licence anyway, your points could be gone by the time you actually start driving again!

In all seriousness though the number of points required for a ban should be lower on a provisional licence, as in the UK. Provisional licence holders are, after all, supposed to be learners and supposed to be driving more cautiously as a result! If one has no respect for the rules of the road when starting out driving it's not a good start, and doesn't exactly help with passing the test either.

Ideally everyone would be retested at least every five years, but that's another story.