Surge in number of children disqualified from driving

Published 23 July 2018

The number of children being disqualified from driving has exceeded 1000 for the first time on record.

Data from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) obtained by the Daily Mail show that the number of youngsters aged 16 or under being disqualified from driving reached 1024 over the past 18 months, up from 696 in 2014.

The DVLA figures were obtained under a Freedom of Information request and show that 242 children were found guilty of dangerous or reckless driving in the UK, while a further 178 were convicted of careless driving. Four children under the age of nine were also prosecuted for speeding or dangerous driving offences.

“It’s frightening to think that anyone under the age of 17 has been caught driving on public roads, let alone children as young as eight. While these figures make for depressing reading, they might just be the tip of the iceberg,” warned Simon Williams of the RAC.

Penalty points for underage drivers are usually held on file by the DVLA and then added to any driving licence they hold in the future.

The Home Office denied that Government cuts were linked in any way to the rise of children being disqualified from driving.

Comments

conman on 23 July 2018

NO police- no law and order and the sooner the Government realise, the safer we will be. Cutting the Police budget was one of the worst things this government could have done. Just look at the cost to the NHS of knife crime. Whilst most of these MP's live in their ivory towers, here in the real world the country is going to the dogs.

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mike150256 on 23 July 2018

totally agree conman, where has all the money gone thats been saved from all these cuts, the government stated it was to reduce national debt but the countries national debt has increased, makes you wonder what the conservatives have done with all the money, ass its not just the police and the nhs that have serious cutbacks which are affecting the general public. the mps done have to rely on the ploce or the nhs as they have their own protection and private medical etc. they are no longer in touch with the working man, then again the conservatives never were

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Murray Snudge on 23 July 2018

These 8 year olds could be better drivers than some 80 year olds though?

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Matthew Lay on 23 July 2018

What's the point in giving some meaningless "punishment" to kids that haven't got a licence to lose in the first place?!
Even if they were older, I don't think they would take any notice of a ban!!

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michael watt on 25 July 2018

Parent responsibility must be factored into these statistics and they need to be prosecuted as a child in law needs protection- they are vulnerable surely.
Society it would appear needs a big wake-up call. I never knew of this problem-
one would initially put this down to fake news! Thank you for highlighting this.

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