Driving while disqualified

For reasons which I need not go into, I was curious earlier today about the penalties for driving while disqualified.

First stop was a number of sites along the lines of reference 1, all of which confirm that driving while disqualified is a serious offence. Furthermore, in these days of cameras and computers everywhere, one is quite likely to be caught, which is apt to be an unpleasant experience. Arrested on the spot and carted off to the police station to be processed. Handcuffed, searched, finger printed, the works. And if you make a fuss, you might get held in the cells for some time, just like in Morse or in Lewis.

Second stop was the Road Traffic Act 1988, s.103, which one might think was the relevant bit of legislation. One gets to a web site (reference 2) carrying it fast enough, but you would be quite wrong if you thought, as I did, that you were going to get a couple of screens defining the offence (scarcely complicated) and laying down the penalties (probably fierce). Rather it is some legal gobbledegook designed to keep lay people at bay.

But dig a bit harder, and third stop was the helpful reference 3, which explains everything. On a good day, one might avoid prison, but one probably would get a hefty fine, extended disqualification and a community service order. For repeat offenders, good days much less likely.

PS: I have not investigated whether there would be another lot of penalties for the offence of driving without insurance, a corollary of driving while disqualified.

Reference 1: http://www.drivingban.co.uk/drivingban/drivingonabanwhilstdisqualified.htm.

Reference 2: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/103.

Reference 3: https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/drive-whilst-disqualified-revised-2017/.