Cengolio · Fines · Codes · DD40
DD40 : dangerous driving
Checked 22 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it means
DD40 is the base offence of the family: driving that falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver, and obviously so, s. 2 RTA 1988. Two consequences are automatic and widely underestimated: the ban is obligatory, at least 12 months, and the licence does not simply return, an extended retest stands between the ban's end and the road. The points appear only in the rare case where the ban is spared, the same exception arithmetic DR10 runs.
Points and how long it stays
3 to 11 points.
On the licence for 4 years from the date of conviction.
The DD family runs on one unusual rule: every code in it, DD10 to DD90, stays 4 years from the date of conviction, not the offence (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-22), the register's pattern for its gravest entries. Dangerous means far below the competent and careful standard, and obviously so, a full shelf above careless; the ladder runs s. 2 RTA 1988 for the driving, s. 1A for serious injury, s. 1 for a death, with the death ceiling lifted to life imprisonment by the 2022 sentencing reforms. Bans here are obligatory and the licence does not simply return: an extended retest stands at the end of a dangerous driving ban. The family's bookends are its curiosities, DD60 for common-law manslaughter at the wheel and DD90 for furious driving under an Act of 1861. The courtroom money mechanics, where they matter at all, sit in the fine bands guide at /fines/guides/fine-bands.
The usual route
Nothing here is dealt with by penalty notice; the case is charged and heard.
If it goes to court
An obligatory ban of at least 12 months with a compulsory extended retest before the licence returns, and custody available, s. 2 RTA 1988; the fine bands are a side room here.
Read next
Calculator: the code decoder, every code on the official list →
Authority
gov.uk, Penalty points (endorsements), checked 2026-07-22