DRIVERS with six points or more on their licence looking for insurance could soon be viewed as "standard" rather than "non-standard", says Swinton, the UK's largest high street insurance broker.

Pointed drivers are no longer automatically penalised at Swinton as a result of the increase in the number of motorists now saddled with penalty points. And the move reflects a change in attitude by the insurance industry as the estimated number of pointed motorists tops six million.

With the 6,000 speed cameras on our roads already catching more than two million speeders each year, and driving while using a mobile phone now costing the driver three points, an unblemished licence is becoming rare.

Swinton announced it had seen a 12 per cent increase in the number of drivers with points looking for insurance during 2006 - and as a result has set up a dedicated unit to deal with this rising demand.

Swinton Specialist was launched earlier this year for drivers of imported, modified and high performance motors. The division is now also handling drivers with penalty points, and is already experiencing a high volume of calls.

Neil Ackinclose, head of Swinton Specialist, said: "Over the last few years we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of drivers with penalty points requesting insurance. A few years ago insurers might have assumed that a motorist with six or more points on their licence was a reckless driver, but that is no longer necessarily the case."

A 2006 YouGov survey estimated that 16 per cent of drivers now have points on their licence. As that figure continues to grow - with some estimating the actual number of pointed drivers to be in the region of ten million - insurance providers are having to accept that points alone can no longer be used as a yardstick for driver evaluation.

For more details, call Swinton Specialist on 0800 781 8400.