Almost 7,000 speeding fines cancelled in county last year
RAC Foundation calls for more ‘robust’ systems of detection and prosecution
THOUSANDS of speeding tickets are cancelled every year but how does this area compare with the rest of the country.
Analysis of Government data by the RAC Foundation revealed 404,335 (17 per cent) of 2.4 million speeding cases in 2020/21 were dismissed.
That’s the equivalent of one in six fixed penalty notices in England and Wales being cancelled.
However, the likelihood of fines being cancelled varies across the country.
In Staffordshire, 55,902 fixed penalty notices were issued for speeding offences last year. Of those, 6,970 were cancelled – or one in eight.
Most people who were fined for speeding were caught by cameras – 54,909 cases in 2020/21 – compared to 993 fines issued by police officers.
You’re much more likely to see your fine cancelled if detected by a camera – 13 per cent were dismissed versus just two per cent of fines issued by Staffordshire Police.
Other outcomes for drivers saw 33 per cent pay a fine, 40 per cent sent for driver retraining, and 14 per cent facing court action.
There are several reasons why offences are cancelled, including: Faulty speed cameras;
Cloned vehicles carrying false number plates;
Emergency vehicles lawfully breaking speed limits;
Delays in issuing notices of intended prosecution;
Lack of resources to bring cases to court.
The RAC Foundation said some of these issues could have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Director Steve Gooding said: “It is correct that drivers caught speeding should face the consequences, but it is also important that the systems of detection and prosecution are robust.
“The hundreds of thousands of cancelled offences each year indicate they are not. At the very least it is an administrative burden the police could do without. We urge the Home Office to start collecting data from police forces about these cancelled offences so we can understand where the problem lies.”
The total number of speeding offences detected was down by only six per cent on the previous year, despite traffic volumes falling by more than a quarter due to coronavirus lockdowns.
However, the number of tickets cancelled rose by 22 per cent.
Adam Snow, a lecturer at the law school of Liverpool John Moores University, who worked on the report, said: “Police forces and local authorities are seeing number plate cloning as a growing problem.
“With the increasing reliance on camera enforcement for clean air zones and moving traffic violations, there is some evidence to suggest more motorists are seeing this as an acceptable response – even though it is fraud.”