DEPARTMENT FOR
TRANSPORT News Release (179) issued by COI News Distribution
Service. 25 November 2008
Disqualified
drivers will be kept off UK and Irish roads by new regulations
laid before Parliament today.
The move will mean that UK drivers disqualified for an offence in
the Republic of Ireland will no longer escape that punishment when
they return home. Likewise, disqualifications earned by Irish
drivers while in the UK will be recognised and enforced when they
return to Ireland.
The measures are the result of a pioneering deal agreed between
the British, Irish and Northern Ireland Ministers in Belfast in
June and represent the first practical step of its kind in Europe.
Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said:
"Britain has one of the best road safety records in the
world but we need to do everything we can to improve even further.
"These measures will keep dangerous drivers off our roads by
ensuring that disqualified drivers are not able to escape their punishment."
The agreement was the first to be drawn up under the terms of the
1998 European Convention on driving disqualifications.
Regulations to bring the agreement into law in Great Britain were
laid before Parliament today and mutual recognition of
disqualifications between the three administrations should be in
place by Spring 2009.
Notes to Editors
1. The agreement is within the framework established by the 1998
Convention on Driving Disqualifications. We believe that this is
the first such instance of international cooperation within that framework.
2. In 1998, the UK and Ireland along with all thirteen (at the
time) other EU Member States of the European Union signed the
international Convention on driving disqualification (98/C
216/01). The Convention intends to ensure that drivers
disqualified from driving in a Member State other than their
normal place of residence should not, on their return home, escape
the consequences of that disqualification.
3. The Convention provides for six agreed kinds of conduct which
will be internationally recognised for the purposes of driving
disqualification. The Convention automatically comes into force
across all Member States only when all signatory States have
ratified it. However, the Convention allows one EU Member State to
recognise another's driving disqualifications before all
Member States have ratified.
4. The agreed behaviours covered by the 1998 Convention include:
reckless or dangerous driving; hit-and-run driving; driving whilst
under the influence of alcohol or drugs; speeding; and driving
whilst disqualified. Today's agreement does not apply to
disqualifications under the totting up of penalty points procedure.
5. The UK and Ireland have already implemented the necessary
primary legislation to allow for ratification (in the UK through
the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003, and in Ireland
under the Road Traffic Act 2002).
6. Mutual recognition of driving disqualification came into
effect between Britain and Northern Ireland on 11 October 2004 and
was extended to include the Isle of Man on 23 May 2005.
Public Enquiries: 020 7944 8300
Department for Transport
Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk