September 2025
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Key points
- Few drivers are banned in London for speeding, careless driving or using a mobile phone.
- Of those convicted at court in London (2024), less than:
- 2% speeding convictions resulted in a ban
- 5% careless driving convictions led to a ban
- 2% mobile phone offences incurred a ban.
- Higher rates of driving bans (i.e. share of convictions) are possible. Northamptonshire had over three times the rate of speeding drivers banned and Durham almost four times the rate of careless driving bans, whilst Kent and Sussex had five times the rate of mobile phone offenders banned.
- AVZ call: The next London Vision Zero Action Plan should aim to increase the bans given for speeding and careless driving. This should involve community impact statements and working with magistrates to ensure they are aware of the harm posed by extreme speeding and careless driving around vulnerable road users. Action should also include lobbying at national level for greater use of driving bans, longer bans and roadside suspensions.
Introduction
Using the latest Ministry of Justice (MoJ) criminal justice statistics, this analysis compares the share of court convictions[1] that resulted in a disqualification for each police service area in 2024 for:
- Speeding
- careless driving and
- mobile phone offences.
These offences are key to reducing harm posed to people walking and cycling. It should be remembered that the police do not determine when disqualifications are given. That is the role of magistrates and courts. But the MoJ publishes disqualification data by police service area. Data can be accessed here.
Speeding (Table 1 below)
In London, only 1.9% of court convictions for speeding offences resulted in an instant ban, with 590 given in 2024. It ranked 18th of the 42 police service areas reported (City of London is included in Metropolitan Police). And whilst Wiltshire had the highest share at 9.7% resulting in a ban, very few speeding offences are convicted there so it is not a fair comparison. But Northamptonshire had 7.3% and Essex had 6.1% of speeding convictions resulting in a ban.
London would have had over three times as many speeding bans given, if it had met the share seen in Essex or Northamptonshire.
Careless driving (Table 2)
In 2024, 108 drivers were disqualified for careless driving out of 2,199 convictions. This meant London ranking 27th with just 4.9% being banned. Durham had 19.1% and Cumbria 11.1%.
London would have had almost four times the number of careless driving bans if it had the same rate as Durham.
London could have had many more banned for careless driving, considering how many careless driving offences are thought to be borderline dangerous driving. Whilst the police had proposed 1,399 careless drivers for court prosecution, over twice were prosecuted (3,065), with most of these assumed to have been dangerous driving arrests which were downgraded to careless driving.
Mobile phone (Table 3)
Only 64 drivers were disqualified for using their mobile phone, out of 2,088 convicted at court in London in 2024. London ranked 19th with just 2.3% disqualified, compared to 13.3% in Kent and 10.6% in Sussex.
Over five times as many bans would have been given for drivers using their mobile phone in London, if the same rate in Kent had been seen.
Totting up
Totting up bans are given when 12 points or more are incurred on a driving license for motoring offences. The totting up ban is associated with the last offence, with no information available on the previous offences.
With totting up bans, London had:
- 2,109 drivers disqualified for speeding
- 115 drivers disqualified for careless driving
- 542 drivers disqualified for mobile phone use (this offence carries six penalty points).
So, more drivers were banned under totting up for these key offences (speeding, careless driving and mobile phone offences) than by instant bans, i.e. single offences. But this is to be expected as the majority of these offences are sanctioned out of court.
It is not possible to know how many exceptional hardship pleas were successful in 2024. The Sentencing Council updated guidance on exceptional hardship in 2020 but no research has been undertaken to date on its effectiveness at ensuring they are only accepted in truly exceptional circumstances.
AVZ comment
The first London Vision Zero Action Plan had calls for action at the national level, including:
- Extend the range of prescribed sanctions for driving and cycling offences and encourage strong and appropriate use of penalties.
• Encourage greater use of driving bans and less willingness to accept a plea of exceptional hardship
• Encourage a higher level of sentencing for offences resulting in harm to vulnerable road users to reflect the seriousness of these offences and the danger they pose to other road users.
AVZ believes this is still needed but the higher rates found elsewhere indicate that more can be done at the local level to increase driving bans. This should include consulting other areas to see how their higher rates were achieved, but also using community impact statements and ensuring magistrates are aware of the harm caused by speeding and careless driving. The Sentencing Council has just updated the guidelines for Careless Driving with increased use of disqualification for medium level offenders and all areas, including London, should see more careless drivers being banned.
[1] Excluding bans given for totting up which are discussed separately
Tables
actionvisionzero.org 