Cengolio · Fines · Endorsement codes
Two letters, two digits, two clocks.
Every endorsement on a driving record is a four-character code with a points range and a clock. Most run 4 years from the day of the offence; the drink and drug family runs 11 from the conviction, and the in-charge codes only move their start if a ban lands. Type the code from the letter and read what it carries.
Codes, points and retention periods per the DVLA endorsement code list on gov.uk, pulled from the live page 17 July 2026.
This decodes the DVLA list; it does not predict a sentence. Where a code carries a range, the court fixes the figure within it, guided by the Sentencing Council guidelines, and fixed penalties sit at the bottom of the range. A speed awareness course is not a conviction and carries no code at all.
Two clocks run on every endorsement: points count towards a 12-point ban only while offences fall within 3 years of each other, s. 29 RTOA 1988, and the code itself stays visible for the 4 or 11 years shown here. Insurers usually ask about 5 years, which is neither clock. Mutual-recognition and NE codes record disqualifications without points. Which points a court actually gives, and what a ban would cost, is argument and circumstance, and none of it is arithmetic.
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