ALMOST 200 drivers in Bradford are still on the road, despite having 12 or more points on their licence.

The highest points total by an individual was a staggering 78 points - more than six times the limit - clocked up by a 24-year-old man from the BD18 area.

This is despite drivers usually being banned when they get 12 or more penalty points within three years.

According to the latest DVLA driver licence data for August, there were a total of 199 drivers living in BD postcode areas who currently have 12 or more endorsements on their licence.

While the unnamed driver with 78 points was the highest nationally, the second highest points total in the district was 35 - almost three times the limit, followed by 26 - more than twice the threshold.

West Yorkshire road safety charity Brake is campaigning for the 12 point ban to be made automatic.

A spokesman for the organisation told the Telegraph & Argus: “It is appalling that so many drivers in Bradford can still get behind the wheel despite having accumulated 12 points or more on their licence.

"These dangerous repeat offenders have been granted ample opportunity to change their driving behaviour, yet continue to put lives at risk through their complete disregard for the law.

"Brake’s Roads to Justice campaign calls for an urgent review of our fundamentally flawed road traffic framework, including closing the ‘exceptional hardship’ loophole.

"If drivers who rack up 12 points aren’t banned, it makes a mockery of the system. Driving is a privilege, not a right and if that privilege is not exercised responsibly, it must be taken away.”

Current rules allow drivers who build up 12 points within a three year period to claim exceptional hardship, which means a magistrate can choose not to ban them from driving.

In order to rack up 78 points, the driver would have to have driven repeatedly dangerously or committed some very serious offences previously which have remained as an endorsement on their licence tor a longer period, Brake added.

Motorists can receive penalty points for a range of offences, from speeding, not having insurance, and driving while disqualified, to matters including dangerous driving, and causing death by dangerous driving.

Most stay on a licence for four years, although causing death by careless driving when unfit through drink or drugs as well as driving or attempting to drive while unfit through drink or drugs, must stay on a driving record for 11 years.

The highest number of penalty points a motorist can be handed for an offence is 11, for causing death by driving, dangerous driving, as well as drink or drug driving.

Once a banned driver is able to reapply for their licence, points will still remain until the end of the four or 11 year period, depending on the offence committed.

The data for Bradford also shows that the worst area for drivers with any level of points in the district is the BD13 area, followed by BD22 and BD20.