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Postcode lottery for penalty points

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17 December 2009 at 09:28

Tags: Car insurance
A car in Central London passes a speed camera. The Government played down claims that traffic laws could be thrown into chaos after cases against two men allegedly caught speeding were thrown out because police paperwork sent to them breached European legislation. * In standard letters to the registered owners of the vehicles, officers asked for the name and address of the driver at the time and warned of possible prosecution for dangerous driving. The judge in the case said that to ask for such information as well as alerting the recipient to possible prosecution was in breach of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The article safeguards the right of anybody suspected of a crime to remain silent so as not to incriminate himself. 7/2/2001: According to a claim by the Association of Chief Police Officers speed cameras have helped cut the number of deaths on the roads. In a pilot scheme eight police forces used money from speeding fines to fund extra cameras instead of passing it on to the Treasury, an according to one senior police officer there was a 50% reduction in collisions and casualties. 13/8/01: The Government was unveiling the extension of a controversial scheme which allows money raised from speed cameras to be used to expand the network of devices on the roads. Transport minister John Spellar was set to announce how successful the plough-back-the-fines' scheme has been in eight trial areas. The eight existing trial areas are Thames Valley (Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire), Essex, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Cleveland, Glasgow, South Wales and the city of Nottingham. They are more than half way through a two-year trial that will end in April next year. 30/12/03: Tory proposal that thousands of motorists would avoid getting points on their licence from offences registered on the majority of Britain's 4,500 speed cameras have received a mixed repsonse from motoring organisations.

The likelihood of drivers being prosecuted for a motoring offence is to some degree dependent on where they live, figures have shown.

The revelation of the "postcode lottery for motoring offences is due to the "massive gulf" between the toughest police forces and those with a more "softly softly" approach, according to statistics from Auto Express Magazine.

In Northamptonshire, a total of 16% of car owners got penalty points on their licences in 2007, compared to 2% who did in Durham.

North of the border in Scotland the figures, which related to 2008/09, showed that in Dumfries and Galloway a total of 21% of owners of cars got penalty points, while in Strathclyde the figure was only 8%.

Cumbria had the unfortunate accolade of having the highest proportion of motorists caught speeding in England in 2007 - at 12%.

Nottinghamshire was home to the highest number of red-light jumpers - at more than 50%. As far as driving without insurance was concerned, the highest number of offenders was in Hertfordshire.

Merseyside topped the tables for the highest number of mobile phone offenders in England and Wales, and next was South Yorkshire.

News and features editor of Auto Express Julie Sinclair said: "Our investigation reveals the shocking truth behind the police penalty points system in the UK, that it's a postcode lottery. The extent to which your driving licence is at risk simply depends on where you live."

Copyright © Press Association 2009

Links

RAC Homepage - http://www.rac.co.uk/

Auto Express Magazine - http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/

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