Ruben Van Gucht has accumulated 4 significant convictions in the last 3 months. This applies to driving under the influence, driving without a driver’s license and cell phone use behind the wheel. It can count. On paper, Ruben Van Gucht now has a driving ban of almost 13 months.
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No chain of punishments?
However, it is not so obvious whether he will serve all those sentences consecutively. “That depends on the administration. Normally, driving bans from different courts are not automatically added together,” says former commissioner Christian Van Hoorebeke at HLN.
Because the sentences come from different districts, there may be a period between the sentences during which Van Gucht could theoretically be allowed to drive again. However, according to Van Hoorebeke, it is not guaranteed that such a ‘stopover’ will always occur.
“It is possible that one driving ban expires and the new notification for the next ban has not yet been received. Justice and IT do not always work very quickly. So it is not one hundred percent certain that he will lose his driving license for thirteen months in a row.”
However, with fines from the same district, such as Ghent and Dendermonde, they can be linked: “Those administrations can link the files. Then after the first driving ban they say: ‘You will not get your driver’s license back yet, because there is a second judgment ready here.”
Driving test has to be repeated
In addition, Van Gucht was also required to retake his driving test in Dendermonde. Van Hoorebeke is crystal clear about this requirement: “You will only get your driving license back if you can show that you have passed. Even if your driving ban only lasts for a month and it takes you longer to pass your practical exam, you will lose your driving license for that entire time.”
