You have to wonder about how much the driver from Swindon who has 39 penalty points on his/her license must be paying for car insurance.

Most of us live in fear of even accruing a few penalty points, lest we start edging ever closer to the dreaded twelve. This of course is because twelve is meant to be the point at which we forego the right to drive and instead become eco warriors by default – consigned to a life of bus rides, bicycling and train station platform hopping.

We know that the twelve-point rule can be waived, although only in “exceptional circumstances”. The DVLA states that in a “small percentage of cases where the driver has accumulated 12 or more penalty points”, courts can opt not to disqualify.

Even so, 39 points is pretty incredible – how exceptional must this driver’s circumstances be?

Unfortunately, although we are allowed to know some details of the case, we are not allowed to know anything specific that might reveal the driver’s identity.

I thought that I might hazard a guess at theis person’s exceptional identity and search through a list of Swindon’s famous names – it didn’t take long, I could only find one: Billie Piper.

Not convinced that rushing to film the latest series of Diary of a Call Girl might qualify as exceptional circumstances, I confess that I’m stumped. I am, however, tantalized by something I’ve just learned: Ian Fleming author of the James Bond novels lived in Swindon while he wrote such classics as Quantum of Solace. I know it’s a long shot, but maybe, just maybe, the real 007, many times saviour of our planet, operates from a bachelor pad in Swindon. Now that would count as exceptional circumstances…

Labels: car insurance, driver, DVLA, penalty points