What is the penalty for driving on a learner permit on your own?

corbo87

Hi guys,
Ive always been curious of this, i have a full licence myself but my nephew does not and he has a learner permit but drives to work and back on his own as he needs the car to get to and from work. He has experience driving but never got a car until january and only then he decided to get his learner permit and apply for his full licence. He is due his full licence in September and has over 4 months to wait but continues to drive in to work and back on his own. In fairness to him, whenever he can get somebody to travel with him he does and he does not drive the car unless he realy has to, getting more to the point lol What is the penalty for driving on a learner permit on your own? Do they give penalty points? a fine? Do they take the car off him? i Googled it in to get some information and the only thing im getting back is 1000 euro fine, nothing about taking the car or penalty points. Curiosity has me asking more and also i do be worried.

L1011

Up to 1000 for driving unaccompanied and up to another 1000 for no L plates if applicable. They do not take the car off you and there are no points. The full fines are rarely levied but obviously can be.

Saruman

While they probably will not take the car, they certainly can if they want since a learner is technically not licensed to drive on their own.

Back in 98 I was a learner driver and was caught by a Gardai for speeding on the N4 chapelizod bypass, you know where they sit under the pedestrian bridge on a regular basis. I was not racing and the speed was certainly safe but that is not the point, I took my fine and when he saw my learner license he asked my friend for his license and he does not have one so I was driving unacompanied. It was still against the law back then but less of a problem as it was not enforced.

Anyway I think he made a have arsed effort to enforce the law but did not care. He told me to drive slowly in the hard shoulder up around the bend and get out of the car and leave it. Anyway I did that and could not see him any more so after a few minutes of debate I drove off. I never heard anything more about it and paid the fine over the phone when I got home. I reckon he let me away with it as otherwise he would not have told me to drive out of his view before getting out of the car.

Anyway the pont is, they are within their rights to take the car.

AugustusMaximus

Its actually incredible to see how many L drivers are still driving unaccompanied.

Yes, some of them maybe full licenced drivers in a car with L plate up but not all of them (or even the majority in my opinion).

corktina

The important thing is he is driving uninsured and should desist.

He is driving "not in accordance with his license"

corbo87

corktina wrote: »

The important thing is he is driving uninsured and should desist.

He is driving "not in accordance with his license"

He actualy is fully insured on the car. If he wasnt insured on the car, id call the gardai myself.

January

corbo87 wrote: »

He actualy is fully insured on the car. If he wasnt insured on the car, id call the gardai myself.

Technically, he's not insured... he does have to have a fully licensed driver driving with him. An insurance company will insure a provisional driver under their own policy, but they do expect you to follow the rules, which means he needs to have a full licensed driver with him at all times while driving. It means that for instance, if he were driving alone and crashed and only caused damage to himself and the car, they could refuse to pay out.

If he was to have an accident and it involved a third party, the insurance company would have to pay the third party, but could seek the money back off your nephew because he was driving unlawfully.

corktina

and whats more he could be proscecuted for driving with no insurance.

L1011

corktina wrote: »

and whats more he could be proscecuted for driving with no insurance.

Depends on the insurance firm. Quinn for one state they cover you irrelevant of whether you're accompanied or not.

corktina

id want to see that in black and white in the small print...

ztoical

corktina wrote: »

The important thing is he is driving uninsured and should desist.

He is driving "not in accordance with his license"

this has been covered to death in a bunch of other threads.

OP there are several threads on this topic already and a sticky at the top of the forum with information on the current laws.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.