The Six Point Rule For New Drivers

After you pass · 9 min read · Updated 1 September 2026

Under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995, six or more penalty points within two years of passing your test revokes your licence. Points from your provisional carry over. After revocation you reapply for a provisional and pass both the theory and the practical again, and one hand-held phone offence is enough on its own.

Most new drivers know there is a rule about points. Fewer know how few offences it takes, and almost nobody knows that points picked up before they passed still count.

The rule is short. Get six or more penalty points within two years of passing your test and your licence is revoked. Not suspended, not endorsed: cancelled. You go back to a provisional and sit both tests again.

Where The Rule Comes From

It is the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995, which created a probationary period for anyone who passes a first driving test. The threshold for an established driver is twelve points before a court considers disqualification. For someone in their first two years it is half that, and it is not a court decision: the DVLA revokes the licence when the points are notified.

The reasoning is straightforward enough. The offences that reach six points quickly are speed and distraction, and those are the two that account for the most harm in the hands of the least experienced drivers.

It is worth being clear about what revocation is not. It is not a driving ban with a fixed length that you sit out.

There is no period after which the licence comes back on its own, and there is no appeal that turns on how much you need to drive for work. The DVLA is applying a rule, not exercising judgement, and the only route back is the one the Act sets out.

The Two Years Runs From The Date You Passed

The clock starts on the date of your first practical pass, not the date the plastic licence arrives and not the date of the offence being dealt with. That last point matters, because points are recorded against the date of the offence rather than the date the case concludes.

So an offence committed in month twenty-three that is not resolved until month twenty-six still falls inside the probationary period. People who assume they have run out the clock because nothing has come through the post yet have misread how it works.

Provisional Points Carry Over

This is the part that surprises people most. Gov.uk puts it plainly: any penalty points on your provisional licence that have not expired are carried over to your full licence when you pass.

So a learner who picked up three points for speeding while on a provisional starts their probationary period already halfway to revocation. One more three point offence in the following two years and the licence is gone, without either offence looking especially serious on its own.

There is a further wrinkle worth knowing. If your licence is revoked after you have passed but before you have sent off for the full licence, you still have to retake both parts of the test. Passing and then not claiming the licence does not put you outside the rule.

How Easily You Reach Six

Two ordinary offences, or one that most people think of as ordinary.

The phone one deserves emphasis because gov.uk states the consequence directly on the same page as the penalty: you will also lose your licence if you passed your driving test in the last two years.

Holding the device is the offence. It does not require a call, a text or any evidence that you were reading anything, and it covers a sat nav or a tablet in your hand exactly as it covers a phone.

Speeding is the other common route, and the fixed penalty is £100 and 3 penalty points. A speed awareness course avoids both where the police offer one and you are eligible, which generally requires that you have not been on one in the past three years. It is not a right and it is not offered for every speed.

What Revocation Actually Involves

It is not a fine or a ban with an end date. The licence is cancelled and you are back where you started.

1. The DVLA revokes the licence once the points are notified
2. You apply and pay for a new provisional licence
3. You pass the theory test again, both the multiple choice and the hazard perception
4. You pass the practical test again
5. Only then do you hold a full licence again

The points themselves stay on your record for their normal period, so they follow you into your insurance quotes as well. And the second time through, the fixed costs are the same as the first time: a provisional, a theory test and a practical test, plus whatever lessons you need to get back to test standard. The current DVSA and DVLA fees are published on gov.uk and are not discounted for people repeating.

Bus Lanes And Box Junctions Are A Different Thing

This trips up new drivers in London specifically, and it cuts in your favour.

Most moving traffic contraventions in London, such as driving in a bus lane during its hours or stopping in a yellow box junction, are enforced by the boroughs and Transport for London as civil penalties.

You get a penalty charge notice in the post, you pay it or you challenge it, and no penalty points are added to your licence. They are expensive and they are annoying, but they do not count towards your six.

Speeding, red lights, phone use, careless driving and driving without insurance are police matters, and those carry points. The practical difference is worth internalising: a bus lane ticket is a money problem, a speeding ticket in your first two years is a licence problem.

That is not a licence to ignore the signs. The rules for both are worth knowing anyway, and they are set out in London bus lanes explained and box junctions explained.

If It Has Already Happened

Revocation is a bad week and it is not a catastrophe, and the people it happens to are rarely reckless drivers. Most of them are ordinary drivers who were unlucky twice inside a period when the margin was half what they were used to hearing about.

The route back is fixed, so the only real decision is how you use the second run at it. Two things are worth doing differently.

The first is not treating yourself as a beginner. You can drive. What you need is enough structured hours to be at test standard again, and the theory retaken because the rule requires it rather than because you have forgotten what a give way sign means. Refresher hours at £41 exist for exactly this shape of driver, and they are a different product from beginner lessons.

The second is being straight about the offence itself with whoever teaches you. An instructor who knows the licence went on speed will spend the hours differently from one who thinks you are nervous at junctions. If you are starting again, say so when you get in touch, because it changes what the first hour should cover.

Insurance is the other consequence, and it lasts longer than the retest. Points and revocations are disclosable to insurers for the periods the rules set, so the second licence usually costs more to insure than the first one did.

If you are unsure exactly where you stand on points or on the probationary period after re-passing, ask the DVLA rather than working it out from a forum, because the answer turns on dates that only your own record holds.

How Not To Be Caught Out

Nothing here requires unusual virtue. It requires knowing which two years you are in and treating them accordingly.

• Put the phone out of reach before you move off, not in the cupholder where picking it up is possible
• Set the sat nav before you drive. Holding it to change the destination is the same offence as holding a phone
• Know the limit on the road you are on. Most of Hackney, Tower Hamlets and the City is 20mph, and the cameras there are set for 20
• Check your record if you had points as a learner, so you know whether you are starting at zero or at three
• Take the speed awareness course if it is offered and you are eligible

The two year period ends quietly. There is no letter and no notification: you simply pass the second anniversary of your test and the threshold goes back to twelve like everybody else. Until then, the margin is smaller than you think, and the cost of finding that out is both tests again.

The rest of what changes on the day you pass is covered in what to do in the first month after you pass, and if you are at the start rather than the end of this, the complete guide to learning to drive in East London sets out the stages in order.

Common questions about the six point rule

More in After you pass

Published 1 September 2026. Prices and DVSA figures are checked when this page is revised. If anything here has changed, ring us and we will confirm it.