Britain’s worst drivers revealed – where does your area rank?

BRITAIN'S worst drivers live in one area of the country - so can you guess where it is?

DVLA figures reveal that some of the country's most dangerous motorists are neighbours.

Those in West Yorkshire are significantly more likely to have been slapped with points than people living anywhere else in the country.

DVLA data on the number of penalties accumulated in different postcodes in the space of just a year appears to show Yorkshire residents are less safe behind the wheel.

A whopping 3.97 per cent of all drivers with full licences in Leeds have points, making them the speediest in the country.

Some 467,153 locals have passed their driving test - and 18,550 of them have at least one point.

In second place is Halifax, a few miles down the road, where 3,570 of 100,876 drivers - 3.53 per cent - have points.

Bradford and Huddersfield, both in West Yorkshire, and Telford in Shropshire make up the rest of the grim top five.

In Bradford and Telford, 3.51 per cent of drivers have points, while 3.28 per cent hold penalties in Huddersfield.

Amazingly, it's actually good news for locals in Halifax, which topped the list in 2019 - when an astonishing 9.62 per cent of residents had at least one point - and 2021, when 4.50 per cent did.

Rounding out the top 10 is Wakefield in West Yorkshire, with 3.27 per cent, Durham with 2.15 per cent, Slough in Berkshire with 2.93 per cent, Liverpool in Merseyside with 2.85 per cent and Darlington with 2.81 per cent.

And while Slough holds the dubious honour of being home to the south's dodgiest drivers, it's closely followed by Gloucester, where 2.56 per cent have points, and Bristol, with 2.55 per cent.

Newport is the only Welsh postcode to make the top 20.

By far the safest place to drive in the country - or perhaps the location with fewest cameras - is Lerwick in the Shetland Islands.

There are 15,743 drivers in the ZE postcode, and 119 of them - 0.75 per cent - accumulated points over the space of the a year.

Perhaps surprisingly, comparatively few London drivers have points, with those north of the capital most likely to have been penalised.

POINTING IT OUT

The same is true of busy Edinburgh, where just 1.65 per cent of drivers have points.

That's likely because the cities are the most heavily-congested in the UK.

Brave motorists who head out in the Scottish capital can expect just 90 days with lower congestion every year.

According to TomTom, it's the 43rd worst place for traffic in the world.

The situation is little better in London, where the average journey takes 37 per cent more time that it should do as a result of jams.

This means that for a journey of 30 minutes, drivers can expect to spend an additional 11 minutes caught in traffic, stretching the trip to 41 minutes.

ROAD TO NOWHERE

However, not all penalty points are issued for speeding. They can be handed to any motorists who breaks the law, with difference offences carrying different penalties.

Those with more than 12 points can be disqualified for up to three years, although anyone who passed their test fewer than two years ago could be banned after just six.

Points stay on a driving licence for either four or 11 years, depending on the offence.

The most common reasons for getting points are for speeding, driving without due care and attention, using a mobile phone, driving while disqualified, and drink or drug-driving offences.

However, those who leave the scene of an accident can be slapped with five to 10 points, while three points are given for driving with defective brakes, tyres or steering.

Driving an uninsured vehicle can land you with eight points, and parking in a dangerous spot can result in three.

There's no longer a paper element to licences, meaning anyone who needs to find out how many points they have should log in to the UK Government website with licence details and their National Insurance number.

And for those trying to find a way out of points, be warned - once issued, there's no way to remove them from a licence apart from waiting for them to expire automatically.