Expired driving license points to be declared?

[trsiam88]

Hi Guys,

Just have a quick question, a friend of mine mentioned that all driving offences have to be declared whether expired or not.

I had an incident back in Jan 2010 for driving without insurance, as the points and offence has now expired I did not feel the need to declare this on the application, am I wrong for not declaring these? (as 5 years had lapsed from the offence, I would say I had 'spent' the conviction, even though it is not a criminal conviction)

Secondly I also had a speeding ticket issued last year Oct, however I was given the option of taking a speed awareness course instead of taking points and thats exactly what I did. Same thing here as this was not endorsed on my license I did not feel the need to declare this on the application.

I am getting a little worried that I have missed the opportunity to declare these on the application, or am I worrying for the wrong reasons?

FYI - I have applied on the 5year Tier1 + 1yr ILR, and applied through NCS in middle of August this year.

[trsiam88]

Any opinions from anyone on this?

[trsiam88]

I am getting no response on this, has no one come across a similar situation before?!

[dhyperion]

I had points that had expired a while back and declared them anyway. FPNs should not affect the decision unless you have too many - especially if they are recent and within a short space of time - which could indicate that you may not be of good character.

You could argue what's the point of declaring expired points, but if you don't then the HO can argue that you did not disclose all relevant information, judge you to be of dubious character and reject your application.

My advice would be to include them as they'll find them either way in the police and court records. In that situation it looks better on your application that you have disclosed them - ie that you have nothing to hide.

Just to be clear though I'm not suggesting or saying that your application will be rejected because you didn't disclose them - just saying what I did for mine and what I would generally recommend.

[trsiam88]

I had points that had expired a while back and declared them anyway. FPNs should not affect the decision unless you have too many - especially if they are recent and within a short space of time - which could indicate that you may not be of good character.

You could argue what's the point of declaring expired points, but if you don't then the HO can argue that you did not disclose all relevant information, judge you to be of dubious character and reject your application.

My advice would be to include them as they'll find them either way in the police and court records. In that situation it looks better on your application that you have disclosed them - ie that you have nothing to hide.

Just to be clear though I'm not suggesting or saying that your application will be rejected because you didn't disclose them - just saying what I did for mine and what I would generally recommend.

Yes that is exactly what I am thinking now, it's not that I was trying to hide anything, I just did not think they would be necessary to mention.

When you do get a speed awareness course instead of a fine and points, that does not count as an FPN, so still need to be declared?

and finally since my application has already been lodged, is there a way I can provide this additional information now?

[dhyperion]

I think if you were convicted you'd probably still declare it and explain what the penalty was - in your case a warning and a speed awareness course.

I'm not sure how you would go about retroactively adding information to your application, I suppose it could be done in the same way people notify change of address or other circumstances in writing. You could write to the HO to add this information.

Maybe contact the HO helpline and ask for advice?