Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, in each of the last 10 years, how many drivers have successfully claimed 'exceptional hardship' when they have reached 12 penalty points and have therefore carried on driving.

HMCTS records case management information about circumstances where there are grounds for mitigating the normal consequences of a driving conviction, but does not categorise specific data under ‘exceptional hardship’. In the Crown and magistrates’ courts there were 83,581 cases with no disqualification due to mitigating circumstances for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2020.

Examples of exceptional hardship are loss of employment; impact of employment on others; impact on the health and safety of others; caring for elderly or disabled relatives; mortgage default or other financial loss.