Cycling UK Forum

This topic came up on another cycling forum & was something I had not considered. Is it possible in the UK for the holder of a car or motorbike licence to have their licence endorsed for offences commited on a bicycle ? Say for example being caught RLJ ?

Thanks in advance, Dave.

The answer is no. A cyclist can not be given points on his licence for a red light. A red light is contrary to section 36 of the RTA 1988.

The penalties are as per schedule 2 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. This sets out for all traffic offences the method of prosecution, level of fines, and whether disqualification and endorsement apply.

For RTA 1988 S36 - Endorsement is obligatory if committed using a motor vehicle so as a bicycle is not a motor vehicle a cyclist's driving licence can not be given points'

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/53/schedule/2

Just to add to irc's post, you - or whoever it was on the other forum - may have confused licence endorsement and disqualification from driving. Legislation was passed a some time ago now, introducing driving disqualification for offences that had nothing to do with driving. It's also been tried out in Northern Ireland as a civil sanction by the Child Support Agency, or whatever it's now called.

The power wasn't introduced nationally - it was only available to courts which had been notified they could use it. We've had at least one earlier thread on this and I lookked up and linked to the legislation then./ Some of these things are changed frequently and I don't know the current position without looking it all up again.

Edit to add.

Here's the current CPS advice on the general power of disqualification.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sent ... tions/#a30

Just to be thread-to-needle for anybody who reads this stuff in detail thle link refers to a "PSD" without giving the full title. It's short for "Plea and sentence document." Briefly, I think that means that a court's sentencing powers are now so complicated that in some cases the CPS is required to look it all up first so the court has at least an idea of the current position.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sent ... iples/#a03

The question did ask if it was possible.

There was a post on here, which was quite credible, about somebody who had incorrectly received an endorsement on their licence for an offence committed while riding a cycle.

meic wrote:The question did ask if it was possible.

There was a post on here, which was quite credible, about somebody who had incorrectly received an endorsement on their licence for an offence committed while riding a cycle.

What about a link?

I vaguely remember that thread too but I've not found it with a quick search.

It would need various mistakes to be made for it to happen: reporting officer wrongly issues a conditional ticket (which includes a requirement to produce driving licence.) --> cyclist produces driving licence and pays ticket --> licence is sent off to DVLA with wrongly issued but accepted fixed penalty documentation --> DVLA endorse licence.

(We did have a thread about a cyclist issued with the wrong ticket for cycling om a on a motorway - in SW Scotland, IIRC.)

It's also technically possible for something similar to happen at court but it doesn't seem feasible that the neither the defendant receiving all the paperwork nor anybody along the line would notice that the evidence in the police officer's report concerned a pedal cycle.

Anyway, here's a link to a discussion about a cyclist who was jailed and disqualified from driving for an offence on a pedal cycle:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=28051

Thank you kindly for all the replies

Dave.

The only thing I know of where a licence can be affected when on a bicycle is if the "crime" is committed involving a vehicle.
Eg. Using a cycle with intention of stealing a car.