Licence Endorsement Codes Explained: The Alphabet That Ends Driving Careers

Every licence check a fleet runs returns a string of two-letter codes - SP30, DR10, MS90 - and the difference between reading them and skipping them is the difference between risk management and filing. The system is public, fixed and short enough to learn: each conviction gets a code, points on a scale from 1 to 11, and a residence time on the driving record of 4 or 11 years depending on the offence.

The frame

Courts can fine and endorse a driving record with penalty points for a motoring conviction. Twelve or more points within 3 years can mean disqualification. Some offences are non-endorsable - disqualification with no points - and if a ban of 56 days or more is imposed without points, the licence has to be renewed, for a fee, after the ban ends. Northern Ireland runs different codes and processes. Drivers can see their own record online, which is exactly what a fleet’s licence check is looking at.

The codes a fleet sees most

• Speeding (SP): SP30, exceeding the statutory limit on a public road, 3 to 6 points; SP50 on a motorway, 3 to 6; SP10, exceeding a goods vehicle limit, 3 to 6. All stay 4 years from the offence. SP10 is the one to brief on - it is the code that says the driver was over a vehicle-class limit, not just the posted one.
• Collision duties (AC): AC10 failing to stop and AC20 failing to give particulars or report within 24 hours, 5 to 10 points each, 4 years from the offence.
• Careless and dangerous (CD): CD10, driving without due care and attention, 3 to 9 points, 4 years from the offence. The serious CD40-CD70 codes stay 11 years from conviction.
• Mobile and control (CU): CU80, breach of control requirements such as using a mobile phone, 3 to 6 points, 4 years; CU30, defective tyres, 3 points.
• Drink (DR): DR10, driving or attempting to drive over the limit, 3 to 11 points, on the record 11 years from conviction - the code that outlasts everything else a driver will ever collect.
• Insurance (IN): IN10, using a vehicle uninsured, 6 to 8 points, 4 years from the offence. In a fleet this one is an operator failure as much as a driver’s.
• Licence scope (LC): LC20, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence, 3 to 6 points - wrong category, expired entitlement.
• Failure to identify (MS): MS90, failure to give information as to the identity of the driver, 6 points. For a company keeper that ignores a Section 172, this is the code waiting.
• Traffic signs (TS): TS10 red lights, TS20 double white lines, TS30 stop signs - 3 points each, 4 years.
• Pedestrian crossings (PC): PC10-PC30, 3 points each.

The offences with no points at all

Not every motoring conviction produces points. A non-endorsable offence is one where the court disqualifies without endorsing - the licence goes, but no code lands. There is still an administrative tail: if a driver is disqualified for 56 days or more without points, the licence must be renewed, for a fee, and only after the disqualification period has ended. For fleets the practical note is that a returning driver’s “clean” record after a long ban is a renewed licence, not an unbroken one. And one map caveat: Northern Ireland runs different endorsement codes and processes, so a driver holding or converting from an NI record needs the NI reading, not the GB table. Drivers themselves can view their licence record online at any time - the same record a fleet check returns - so a sensible policy simply asks drivers to know their own codes before the office reads them.

Reading a licence check properly

The residence rules matter as much as the points. Most codes sit for 4 years - from the date of the offence for some, from conviction for others - while the drink and serious dangerous-driving codes stay 11 years from conviction. Totting counts points within 3 years, but insurers, customers and the TC read the whole visible record. An SP30 from 30 months ago is live in both senses; a DR10 from a decade ago is still on the page.

The management use is pattern recognition. One SP30 is a moment; three CU80s is a culture; an MS90 against the company is a nomination-process failure, not a driver problem. Codes in clusters tell you which briefing to run next.

Sources

• Penalty points (endorsements): overview - GOV.UK
• Endorsement codes and penalty points - GOV.UK