Penalty points awarded for driving offences are used solely to operate the “totting up” system. Under this system, drivers who accumulate 12 or more points within three years (the dates of the offences, not the convictions, being used for this purpose) are liable to a disqualification of a minimum of six months.
These points remain “active” for three years from the date of the offence, and remain visible on the licence for four years, after which the driver may apply to the DVLA for a new licence with the points and details of conviction removed. There is no facility for having them deactivated or removed earlier.
Magistrates have the discretion to impose a disqualification for any single offence which carries points, and some more serious offences (excess alcohol and dangerous driving are two examples) carry mandatory disqualifications. In these cases points are not imposed. For most of these convictions details remain on the licence for four years, but in the case of excess alcohol and some other drink or drug related offences they remain for eleven years. This is because a second or subsequent similar offence within ten years of the first makes the driver liable for a considerably heftier penalty. (For example, a second excess alcohol offence within ten years of the first attracts a minimum disqualification of three years instead of one).