How Long Do Points Stay on Your Licence? (SP30)

If you are convicted of a speeding offence, you will receive penalty points on your licence. SP30 is the endorsement code for speeding on a public road that is not a motorway, and covers a large proportion of the speeding offences committed in the UK, including both minor and more serious offences. The most common way for minor speeding offences to be dealt with is for the offending driver to receive a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN), which comes with three penalty points on your licence and a £100 fine.

These points can have a significant impact on your driving record. Car insurance providers may increase your premiums if you have a conviction for a speeding offence, and jobs that require a clean driving record may no longer be open to you. The biggest risk is a driving disqualification, which may happen if you receive too many penalty points in a given period. Some motoring offences can result in more points being issued at one time, which can make this a much more significant risk.
The good news is that penalty points expire. However, they remain on your licence and driving record for a set period after they have expired, which can make it difficult to give a simple answer to the question of how long speeding points stay on your licence. Here, the driving offences experts at JMW explain how an SP30 endorsement and other offence codes affect your driving record, how long penalty points stay on your driving licence and your legal options if you believe you have been penalised unfairly.

What Is an SP30 Offence?

If you have been caught speeding on a public road, you may receive an SP30 endorsement on your driving record. An SP30 code is used when a driver is convicted of exceeding the statutory speed limit on a public road. This is one of the most common speeding offences in the UK, separate from motorway-specific speeding offences such as an SP50, or the SP40 offence for exceeding the passenger vehicle speed limit.

You will typically receive an SP30 endorsement if you accept a Fixed Penalty Notice and plead guilty to an offence. The FPN will usually impose three penalty points on your driving licence, although how many penalty points you receive will be affected by the severity of the offence and can be as many as six. If you decide to challenge a speeding conviction in court, or are summoned to court because the initial offence was particularly severe, you will often receive a harsher punishment unless you are able to mount a successful defence.

How Long Do SP30 Speeding Points Stay on Your Licence?

SP30 endorsements remain on your driving record for four years from the date of the offence. During this time, the points are visible on your licence record, which can be checked online through the DVLA. Employers and insurance providers will be able to see the conviction code and will know that the endorsement was for exceeding the speed limit.

However, while the points remain on your record for four years, they are generally considered “active” for only three years, after which they expire. This means that they will only contribute towards a “totting up” driving ban for three years after they are issued. Totting up refers to the system where drivers who accumulate 12 or more points within three years may face disqualification from driving.

Once the four-year period has passed, the SP30 endorsement is removed automatically by the DVLA. There is no need to apply for removal. However, even after the four-year endorsement period has expired, insurers may still ask about SP30 convictions for longer. Most insurers require disclosure for five years, and an SP30 conviction can increase premiums during this time.

If you are in the first two years after passing your driving test, the consequences can be more severe. Your licence will be revoked if you accumulate six or more points within two years after passing your driving test, rather than the usual 12 points. An SP30 endorsement alone could therefore put a new driver at risk of losing their licence. In these cases, you must reapply for a provisional licence and retake both the theory and practical tests before you can legally drive.

Can You Change How Many Penalty Points You Receive?

There are a few ways to try to minimise how many penalty points you receive, and it may be worth trying to do so if you are at risk of losing your licence through a totting up ban. If you have grounds to defend yourself in court, this may be a worthwhile approach. For example, if there is evidence that a speed camera, radar device or other technology was not calibrated correctly, this can serve to have your conviction overturned. Similarly, if you can prove that you were not driving at the time of the alleged offence, or that there have been procedural errors in how your case was handled, you may be acquitted and face no penalty points.

In many cases, drivers may be offered the option to attend a speed awareness course for a first offence. This is not available if you have already completed such a course in the last three years. Completing the course successfully usually means that no points are added to your licence, but this is only offered at the discretion of the police force in question and is not guaranteed.

Finally, working with a solicitor to present mitigating circumstances can also affect how many points you receive, which can be important if you are at risk of a driving disqualification. Mitigating factors such as a genuine show of remorse or proof that you were speeding due to an emergency may help to reduce your sentence, although you will usually still receive a minimum of three penalty points in these cases even if you are successful.