Penalty points driving on UK licence in Ireland

SheehanS

Hi, I have been driving in Ireland for 10 years on a UK licence. I have had it stolen do now have to exchange for Irish licence. Over past 5 years I've accrued 10 penalty points. They have been recorded with the authorities. When I get my Irish licence is it only the current ones that get carried over or is it all 10.

Kristopherus

Welcome to Boards.Why did you post this in the South forum? You woud get far better info on the Motors forum. Ask a Mod to change it for you as you are newe here.

paulgalway

Kristopherus wrote: »

Welcome to Boards.Why did you post this in the South forum? You woud get far better info on the Motors forum. Ask a Mod to change it for you as you are newe here.

Just get another UK licence

SheehanS

paulgalway wrote: »

Just get another UK licence

Can't because not resident there anymore....gone very strict reissuing...proof of address etc

Reggie.

Sorry a bit off topic here but there's a question I've always wondered.
Can you get points on your irish licence for speeding in Britain or vice versa? Work with a few northern lads and they claim that they are never followed by the garda for driving in bus lanes and the likes as they can't get the points. Is this true?

Ruu

Moved from South forum.

Mod.

sunnysoutheast

Reggie. wrote: »

Sorry a bit off topic here but there's a question I've always wondered.
Can you get points on your irish licence for speeding in Britain or vice versa? Work with a few northern lads and they claim that they are never followed by the garda for driving in bus lanes and the likes as they can't get the points. Is this true?

I can attest that you can get points for speeding in Ireland on a UK licence

The way it works is that a "driving record" is created which tracks the points, if 12 are applied the foreign driver is banned from driving in Ireland. The points expire after three years. They also need to be notified to insurance.

It's all spelled out on the RSA and Garda websites.

What I don't know is what happens if the fixed charge notice etc. is sent to an address the driver no longer lives at, as after a while the court summons will be sent there too.

To answer the OPs question I would expect that some of the points may have expired by now. I think you can call and find out how many are on your "driving record".

savagethegoat

paulgalway wrote: »

Just get another UK licence

t's an offence in the UK not to have your current address on your license. They wont accept an Irish address

Why? because they do things properly

Reggie.

savagethegoat wrote: »

t's an offence in the UK not to have your current address on your license. They wont accept an Irish address

Why? because they do things properly

What about an Irish tourist?

CiniO

Reggie. wrote: »

What about an Irish tourist?

What about him?

Irish tourist in UK will have an Irish licence.

CiniO

SheehanS wrote: »

Hi, I have been driving in Ireland for 10 years on a UK licence. I have had it stolen do now have to exchange for Irish licence. Over past 5 years I've accrued 10 penalty points. They have been recorded with the authorities. When I get my Irish licence is it only the current ones that get carried over or is it all 10.

That's a very interesting question.

About a year ago system was changed.

Before, for holders of foreign licences who were issued penalty points, those points were written on a ghost licence record. Those point though had no effect until licence was exchanged for Irish - they were just not active.
So. in other words, person could collect 100 points that way, and never suffer any consequences. No need to declare to insurer, and no possible driving ban. Also those points never expired. Only when licence was exchanged for Irish, they were activated, so there was a possibility, that person would be banned straight away after exchanging licence for Irish, as they had 12 or more points on ghost licence.

This system though was changed last year, and now holders of foreign licences, are awared point the same as anyone else. Those points expire after 3 years, and need to be declared to Irish insurer, as well as if 12 is exceeded person will be banned from driving (only in Ireland in that case).

In OP's case, I have completely no clue what system they used during system swap. Did they activated his points at the moment law changed, or what else happened.

Best thing to do OP is to ring RSA and ask them how many points you have, and if you have any on yout ghost licence which would activate once you swap your licence for Irish.
If you find out, it would be great if you could let us know here, so we could find out how this system now works.

orlaithd12

Hi, I have had a UK licence since the early nineties.
I have three penalty points attached to my record since 2017.
My question is, I am going to exchange my UK licence for an Irish one, in light of Brexit, poss no deal, and driving abroad.... Will the penalty points automatically transfer to my new Irish licence, and will they just simply last another year as they're due to expire next year, 2020...
Thanks..

CiniO

orlaithd12 wrote: »

Hi, I have had a UK licence since the early nineties.
I have three penalty points attached to my record since 2017.
My question is, I am going to exchange my UK licence for an Irish one, in light of Brexit, poss no deal, and driving abroad.... Will the penalty points automatically transfer to my new Irish licence, and will they just simply last another year as they're due to expire next year, 2020...
Thanks..

Are they penalty points earned in Ireland or UK ?

If in Ireland, then they are already attached to your details, and will expire within 3 years since you got them.
If they are penalty points you got in UK, they don't matter in Ireland, and won't be transferred.

wassie

I believe that if the foreign drivers licence is converted to an Irish one, then the points are transferred and the clock is effectively reset to the 3 years. I cant find anything on the net to confirm one way or the other, but from memory I thought that there was no mechanism to ensure dates were transferred across.

As for the OP, you will need your original licence to swap over. As you cant produce it, you will need a letter from the UK authorities confirming your entitlement to such.

freddyuk

[QUOTE
As for the OP, you will need your original licence to swap over. As you cant produce it, you will need a letter from the UK authorities confirming your entitlement to such.[/QUOTE]


That letter will be sent to the address on your UK licence so that may cause you a problem as I guess you don't own that address any more?

Henry Ford III

CiniO wrote: »

Are they penalty points earned in Ireland or UK ?

If in Ireland, then they are already attached to your details, and will expire within 3 years since you got them.
If they are penalty points you got in UK, they don't matter in Ireland, and won't be transferred.

They will for insurance purposes.

Lantus

You ideally need to transfer your UK to an Irish license if your living here now.

Call dvla and explain stolen but your living abroad now. You need a document from them to transfer.

The cut off date is March 29 but that could change based on imminent UK votes to determine best exit strategy.

Danger is a disorderly exit could render a UK license void either legally or from an insurance perspective until an arrangement is made.

When I lost my Finnish license back in 2012 and applied for the exchange Irish one, the new license had fresh three years of 2 penalty points that I got back in 2005.

CiniO

samih wrote: »

When I lost my Finnish license back in 2012 and applied for the exchange Irish one, the new license had fresh three years of 2 penalty points that I got back in 2005.

That's how it used to work.
Holders of foreign licences, if fined in Ireland, used to get their points registered on their shadow licence record, but were not active.
They only got activated once licence was exchanged into Irish.

This caused undesired situations, f.e. foreign licence holder could accumulate 50 penalty points within a year on their Irish shadow licence record, but still be perfectly entitled to drive here.

On the other hand, there could be individual how got 3 penalty points in 2001, 3 penalty points in 2004, 3 penalty points in 2007, and 3 penalty points in 2010.
Effectively as points are to last for 3 years, by 2014 he should have clear account with 0 points, but if he was foreign licence holder point would accumulate and never activate and never expire.
Effectively so, if such person applied to exchange his foreign licence into Irish one, he would be awarded 12 penalty points right away after obtaining Irish licence and be disqualified for 6 months straight away.

I assume for those reasons system was changed few years ago (around 2015 iirc) and since then, penalty point are activated straight away even for foreign licence holders and expire after 3 years.

CiniO

Henry Ford III wrote: »

They will for insurance purposes.

How's that?

What do penalty points issued in another country which doesn't have any deal with Ireland about mutual recognision of penalty points could matter for insurance purposes in Ireland?

wassie

CiniO wrote: »

That's how it used to work.
...I assume for those reasons system was changed few years ago (around 2015 iirc) and since then, penalty point are activated straight away even for foreign licence holders and expire after 3 years.

You are correct in regards to the changes.

However Im fairly certain if the foreign licence holder exchanges to an irish one, any active penalty points that are transferred effectively become new points on a new licence and hence the clock is reset to 3 years. Again I stand to be corrected, but people I know who have done swaps in last couple of years have reported that to me. They are frustrated as they are paying loadings on insurance premiums for points that should have expired by now.

GM228

wassie wrote: »

However Im fairly certain if the foreign licence holder exchanges to an irish one, any active penalty points that are transferred effectively become new points on a new licence and hence the clock is reset to 3 years. Again I stand to be corrected, but people I know who have done swaps in last couple of years have reported that to me. They are frustrated as they are paying loadings on insurance premiums for points that should have expired by now.

To clarify the situation is as CiniO describes to an extent, but depends on when the points were endorsed on the ghost licence or foreign driver entry.

Any penalty points accrued on a foreign licence prior to 1st August 2014 are held on a "ghost licence" they only became active:-

(a) upon exchange if there are no further points since that date, or

(b) when there are further points from that date onwards irrespective of an exchange.

Any points accrued after that date or to which (b) above applies are held on a "foreign driver entry" and expire in the normal timeframe irrespective of an exchange.

This is as a result of amendments made to the Road Traffic Act 2002 by the Road Traffic Act 2014, there is an element of unfairness in relation to (a) above which is apparently a legal oversight.

biko

2015 thread closed.
Start new thread if needed.