Spent or Unspent Confusion

[Gcfg]

Hi There

I have a simple question which I have been trying to find online for hours until I was redirected to this forum to seek some advice.
I was convicted in March 2011 of DR90 - In possession of a vehicle whilst unfit through drugs (According to gov.uk - An endorsement stays on my license for 4 years, which means March 2014) I wanted to find out the following for insurance purposes as to what the spent or unspent date of the conviction is. The confusion lies with DVLA website which states the following:

You have 0 penalty points:

• Offence dates
  • Offence date: 25 Dec 2010
  • Expiry date: 25 Dec 2013
  • Removal date: 25 Dec 2014

Rehabilitation of Offenders acts states :

Applying For Insurance

You may say that you do not have any previous convictions on an application form for an insurance policy as long as the rehabilitation period has ended and the convictions are spent. This still applies even if the convictions are relevant to the insurance policy being taken out – you do not have to disclose spent road traffic convictions when applying for car insurance..

Q: So my question is when applying for insurance after 25 Dec 2014 can I declare my conviction as spent for Insurance (as this is what is stated by DVLA on their website) ?, or do I need to wait till March 2015 of next year for me to insure myself ?

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

The rehabilitation period for an endorsement is 5 years. The reason the DVLA mention 3 years for penalty points is that points are only relevant for the 'totting up' procedures, (i.e. where someone amasses 12 penalty points) for 3 years.

Therefore you will be required to disclose any penalty points endorsement for a period of 5 years before it will be declared spent. Please can you confirm whether you were convicted for bring in charge of a motor vehicle whilst unfit through drugs and that you were given penalty points and a fine for this offence?

 

[Gcfg]

The rehabilitation period for an endorsement is 5 years. The reason the DVLA mention 3 years for penalty points is that points are only relevant for the 'totting up' procedures, (i.e. where someone amasses 12 penalty points) for 3 years.

Therefore you will be required to disclose any penalty points endorsement for a period of 5 years before it will be declared spent. Please can you confirm whether you were convicted for bring in charge of a motor vehicle whilst unfit through drugs and that you were given penalty points and a fine for this offence?

Hi Sean

Yes I was given both.
I rang DVLA and they told me that after 25 December 2014 the points will no longer be subject to totting up as the 4 year period will end.
The conviction will not be spent till March 2015. Most insurance companies ask for 5 years, to which the answer will be yes, but it will be spent come March 2015. So it is not an issue from what I have investigated.