Added on September 17, 2019  The News Wheel

Exceptional Hardship Explained

If a driver accumulates over 12 penalty points within three years, he automatically becomes a “totter” and should be disqualified for about six months. Nonetheless, disqualification can be evaded if the driver can justify that losing his license will lead to exceptional hardship.

It’s important to note that exceptional hardship is only arguably where the offense in question features penalty points and where the motorist faces disqualification under the standard totting-up provisions. What this means is that exceptional hardship can’t be argued in cases requiring mandatory disqualification, like dangerous driving and drink driving. 

The basics

So, what is exceptional hardship? An exceptional hardship refers to what can be submitted by the driver or defendant as an appeal in court to recall your driving license. This is often done after totting up at least 12 points under the standard totting up system. Typically, this plea will contain any information explaining why a driving ban could severely impact your life to an unexpected level.

It’s the court’s obligation to consider all the driver’s circumstances during a hearing. They’ll access the intensity of the implications and decide if the ban would really amount to “hardship” or not.

If your submission is successful, the court will deem your circumstances exceptional.

There isn’t an exact definition of the term exceptional hardship, but each case will certainly depend on its own merits as well as circumstances. And the hardship experienced should be exceptional. Therefore, it should go beyond what a person would experience after losing their driving license. As such, the loss of employment in itself won’t likely satisfy the exceptional hardship test. Nonetheless, if it can as well be established that losing employment would have a knock-on some people’s lives, then it would be categorized as a form of exceptional hardship.

Exceptional hardship examples

There are no strict rules as to what situations may amount to exceptional hardship and usually, a combination of circumstances might offer the best prospect for success. And these include:

• Loss of employment
• Health or disability
• Inability to settle debts/pay loans
• Loss of business
• Loss of home
• Hardship to family members
• Hardship to employees or employer

Application for exceptional hardship

Exceptional hardship applications are often raised by the drivers at the time of the sentence. And this often happens when a driver is convicted or at the point when he accepts that he committed the crime and pleads guilty. Once the application has been made, the court will fix a hearing date, which is commonly referred to as an Exceptional Hardship Proof. Nonetheless, it’s also common for courts to analyze the Exceptional Hardship issue before deciding on the number of points. Notwithstanding the procedure being utilized, penalty points must always be imposed.

It’s the driver’s responsibility to prove to justify that exceptional hardship is likely to occur from the loss of his or her license and that would prompt the court to make a finding of exceptional hardship. Normally, the driver will need to provide evidence and move other pieces of evidence or suggestions to support his or her application for exceptional hardship. And if the evidence isn’t accepted by the prosecuting attorney, the driver can end up being cross-examined and the submitted evidence challenged. On the other hand, the prosecutor might accept the driver’s argument. In this regard, the court can simply listen to submissions in the absence of evidence.

Get professional help

If your license is at risk due to totting-up provisions and you’re ready to place an argument for exceptional hardship, then you may want to consider seeking professional help. Partner with a firm that’s highly experienced in the field who’ll quickly establish the merits of your case and recommend the best option for you. Getting early expert advice can save you substantial amounts of time and expense. Plus, your case will be prepared carefully, supporting documentation provided, and effective representations will be made in court.

For an exceptional hardship case to be successful, numerous aspects are often considered. These include:

• Loss of employment– If the motorist is able to source relevant supporting information demonstrating how their career will be negatively affected by a driving ban, the prosecutors could be convinced to exercise discretion. Nonetheless, this argument alone isn’t sufficient to avoid a ban.
• Financial constraints– A driving ban plus the potential loss of employment could lead to financial constraints.
• A profession that affects other people’s health and safety- if the driver or defendant is able to argue that their career as significant in ensuring the safety as well as the health of other people, they could probably avoid a driving ban.
• Restricted movement– If the motorist has severe health issues in which a driving ban could intensely restrict mobility, the court might decide to exercise discretion.

The court’s judgment

At the end of the hearing, the court will then decide if an Exceptional Hardship has been recognized or not. In case the exceptional hardship dispute is successful, the court will automatically impose penalty points and then place an order that no disqualification should be made. This decision is recorded on the victim’s driving license but it’s always important to note that a driver can’t rely on the same basis to support another exceptional hardship application within a three-year period.

In case the argument for exceptional hardship isn’t successful, the court will inflict the appropriate number of penalty points and disqualify the driver for at least six months. And if the driver had previously been disqualified, the period of disqualification extends to 12 months. Typically, disqualification under totting-up can “wipe the slate clean”, allowing for the removal of the points which resulted in the ban.

The bottom line

If you feel that a driving ban can severely ruin your life, you may want to consider placing a request for an exceptional hardship. All you need is to provide sufficient evidence that’ll compel the magistrates to grant you the approval. But it’s also important that your arguments may not sometimes be strong enough to avoid a ban.

This is a collaborative article.