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Budleigh traders launch campaign to attract more shoppers.

9 Oct 2023

A group of independent traders in Budleigh Salterton have started a campaign to attract more shoppers.
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Tech could drive more business for indie retailers this Christmas

9 Oct 2023

New research from Square and Clearpay indicates consumer confidence is rising, with 72% of consumers planning to spend more or the same this coming holiday season compared to last year,... Read more…

Full line-up announced for 2023 Bookshop Day this Saturday.

9 Oct 2023

Miriam Margolyes, Richard Armitage and Tomi Oyemakinde will be among the authors headlining events at this year’s Bookshop Day taking place this Saturday 14th October.
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Shop owners demand new offence for attacks on retail workers

4 Oct 2023

Shop owners have called on the Home Secretary to specifically outlaw attacks on retail workers.
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Are you up to speed with new ban on single-use plastics?

4 Oct 2023

From the start of October, bans and restrictions on single-use plastic cutlery, polystyrene cups and food containers, single-use balloon sticks and certain types of polystyrene cups and... Read more…

Cash still crucial for UK’s independent retailers

27 Sep 2023

A recent survey of retailers across the UK has shown that cash remains a crucial payment method for independent shops.
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Almost 2,000 more independent shops left empty in the first half of this year

27 Sep 2023

Almost 2,000 more British independent shops were left empty in the first half of this year, as small businesses struggled to cope with rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.
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Indie shops in Liverpool create their own security network to combat shoplifters.

27 Sep 2023

An independent shop owner in Liverpool has said that independent shops in the city centre have taken to creating their own security WhatsApp group, warning each other of shoplifters in the... Read more…

Indie shops key to reversing fortunes of struggling high streets – university study finds.

27 Sep 2023

A focus on independent and ‘browse-only’ shops can help to reverse the fortunes of the struggling high street, according to an extensive study by Manchester Metropolitan University.
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Trade association welcomes Home Office ‘back-to-basics’ retail crime promise

13 Sep 2023

The recent pledge by police forces across England and Wales to pursue every lead that holds a reasonable chance of apprehending criminals and solving crimes has been welcomed by Bira, which... Read more…

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Legislate to close ‘hardship loophole’ to keep all road users safe, Cycling UK demands

Posted on in Cycles News, Outdoor News

Cycling charity Cycling UK has renewed its call on the Government to close the loophole in the law which allows people to escape driving bans.

Hardship loopholeCurrently, drivers who have 12 penalty points on their licence, which would normally result in a temporary driving ban, can avoid a ban by claiming it would cause them “exceptional hardship”.

Cycling UK has calculated more than 83,000 drivers with 12 points or more have escaped disqualification in the past ten years. In October 2020, the Sentencing Council issued guidance for magistrates which was intended to reduce the number of offenders with totting up offences who avoided disqualification.

As reported in the Sunday Times, since those changes, the Sentencing Council said it has been suggested by some magistrates and legal advisers that courts are too often imposing short discretionary disqualifications (of less than 56 days) where people have received 12 or more points.

Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s head of campaigns, said: “The Sentencing Council’s report shows we now have a loophole within a loophole. The result is people who should be facing six-month or longer driving bans are continuing to pose a risk on our roads, often with fatal results.”

The Sentencing Council cannot enact legislative change, but only issue guidance to magistrates to follow. Cycling UK says that with evidence the guidance is ‘failing’, the Government must enact necessary legislation to keep all road users safe.

Dollimore said: “For the past eight years we have been promised by successive ministers a review of Road Traffic Offences and Sentencing. This review, if it ever begins, could put an end to the fatal flaws, like the exceptional hardship loophole, in our current road safety legislation.

“Exceptional hardship is not losing the right to drive, exceptional hardship is what families such as Louis McGovern’s and Lee Martin’s have to face when their loved ones do not return home. Exceptional hardship is when the courts put the retention of someone’s licence to drive above the safety of other road users. Exceptional hardship is when the courts allow irresponsible people to carry on driving until they cause further harm or death on the roads.

“The law as it is, does not deliver justice and fails to reduce danger on our roads. For more than eight years the government has recognised our road traffic laws failing – it’s about time they brought in their much-needed change.”

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