Moved by
Baroness Randerson
158: After Clause 76, insert the following new Clause—
“Definition of “exceptional hardship”
In the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, after subsection 35(4), insert—
“(4A) In subsection (4)(b) above, the hardship that would be caused by an offender’s disqualification should be regarded as exceptional if and only if it is significantly greater than the hardship that would arise for a large majority of other drivers if the same disqualification were imposed on them.
(4B) In assessing whether the hardship arising from the offender’s disqualification would be exceptional, a court may take account of—
(a) any circumstances relating to the offender’s economic circumstances or location of residence that would make it exceptionally hard for him to access key services such as grocery shops and postal, banking and healthcare facilities,
(b) any hardship that would be incurred by the offender’s family or others who are disabled and who depend on the offender to provide care for them, and
(c) any other circumstance which it believes would make the hardship genuinely exceptional.””
Member’s explanatory statement
This new Clause provides a definition of “exceptional hardship” for the purpose of RTOA.