The law states that where a person accrues 12 or more penalty points for offences committed within 3 years of one and other they are liable to a 6-month disqualification (or longer in certain circumstances) under the penalty point disqualification procedures. This is commonly known as “totting”.

One way to avoid a “totting” disqualification is to argue that exceptional hardship would result from your being disqualified. If the magistrates find that exceptional hardship would result, then they may disqualify you for a lesser period than the standard 6-month period or decide not to disqualify you at all. A high benchmark standard has been set when it comes to trying to argue exceptional hardship.