The fact that there are a significant amount of drivers who are allowed to remain on the road, despite having 12 or more penalty points on their licence, is an affront to the vast majority of law-abiding motorists on our roads.

Despite the fact that 12 points should bring a mandatory ban, a new report shows that almost 9,000 drivers around the country have not had their licence removed.

In Bradford, 72 drivers have escaped the ban, despite totting up the points.

In the main, it seems to be a result of the discretion of the courts, although a report last year highlighted extreme cases of very high points totals where lack of communication between the DVLA and the courts had apparently meant no ban was imposed.

So most of these motorists will have convinced magistrates that they need their licence for work or personal reasons and have been allowed to keep it.

But there is a very strong argument that by the time they have reached 12 points, these drivers have normally been before the court three or four times, and should have had fair warning of the consequences.

Whether speeding, no insurance, careless driving or any other misdemeanour, they have flouted the law – the law that most of us manage to stay within.

So it is surely time that hitting 12 points is a mandatory ban, with no discretion permitted.

Reaching that level of points means a motorist has repeatedly flouted traffic laws and at that point, a ban should be automatic.

That would be fairer to those motorists who manage to avoid totting up points like this.

And it would send a clear message to those who do feel they can disregard traffic laws.