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The benefits of attending a course

If you are offered a course it gives you the chance to avoid:

• a fixed penalty
• a possible court appearance
• penalty points on your licence

The course that you attend will aim to help you become a more responsible driver, helping you to contribute to better road and community safety.

There’s no test or exam. Your attendance and willingness to take part in the experience are all that’s needed to successfully finish the course.

Courses to help you improve as a driver or rider

The police may offer you a retraining course depending on the road traffic offence committed, instead of prosecution or a fixed penalty.

Most police forces in the UK offer the full range of courses under the national arrangements. You can only attend a course once within a three-year period. If you are involved in another incident that’s your fault within the three-year period you’ll get a fixed penalty notice or you’ll go to court.

You can choose to take your course at a venue that suits you as long as the course fits with the nationally approved model.

You’ll have to pay for the cost of the course and give up your time to attend. When you apply, the course provider will give you more details on the:

• course locations
• availability
• costs
• times

National driver improvement course and alertness course

The police may offer this course to you if you have shown careless or inconsiderate driving or a similar offence. It involves attending an approved venue for a day and a half of training, based in the classroom and on the road.

• National driver improvement scheme Opens new window

Rider intervention and developing experience (RiDE) scheme

The police may offer you this course if you have shown careless or inconsiderate motorcycle riding.

This includes:

• speeding
• failing to follow traffic signs and signals
• not being in control of your motorcycle
• other similar offences

The training course is entirely classroom based, held at an approved venue for one day. You can find out more about RiDE and how to give feedback on the RiDE website.

• RIDE course evaluation project Opens new window

National speed awareness course

This course can either be four or five hours long. The four-hour course is theory only, the five-hour course is a mixture of theory and practical. Both courses give you the same results. The local police force decides on which course best meets their local needs.

• National speed awareness scheme Opens new window

View available courses online

If the police have offered you any one of the courses you can find out about it, by checking your offer letter or go to the retraining scheme website.

You’ll need your driving licence number to log in where you’ll be able to see course availability and prices. The prices shown may be subject to surcharges and you should only think of them as a guide. The course provider will give you more details.

You’ll need to contact a course provider to book and pay for a course.

• The National Driver Offender Retaining Scheme courses Opens new window

More useful links

• UK and non-UK driving licence information