Rising insurance costs and the price of fuel mean that driving is becoming increasingly expensive. Now, it seems that making a mistake when driving is becoming more expensive too. New figures from the Press Association show that the contribution that constabularies get from each person attending a speed awareness course jumped from £35 to £45 last month, as course costs rise. Attending the course means that drivers can avoid getting penalty points on their licence for speeding.
Expensive business
This means that police forces around the UK will collect some £54 million from the 1.2 million drivers who attend a speed awareness course in the UK this year. The staggering figure doesn’t include the millions of pounds that they receive from courses such as the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS), which is conducted by private companies on behalf of the police.
Courses are offered on a discretionary basis. Offenders can attend a course and avoid both the points on their licence and a fine. However, the actual cost of the course can vary greatly depending on where you live.
Regional variations
Motorists speeding in Northamptonshire, for example, have to fork out £75 for the speed awareness course, while Essex drivers pay £99, a difference of 32%. There are also some big regional differences in prices for the Ride courses, which are part of the NDORS. Drivers in Lancashire pay £80, while those in Norfolk and Suffolk pay £185 – a difference of £105 for the same course.
According to the RAC Foundation, people are attending speed awareness courses with no idea that people in the next county could be paying significantly less for the same service. There is no system in place to explain why speeding course costs vary by as much as a third, just depending on where you live.
(Credit – Albert Bridge)
Worth the cost?
With rising costs for the speed awareness course, and regional price differences, the question then becomes – is it still worth doing the course?
One way of deciding this is by looking at the cost of insurance, which rises when you have points on your licence. Drivers who have 10-11 points see the biggest increase, of up to 82% on the average policy price. London, Glasgow and Birmingham see the highest costs for these drivers.
Even at the lower end of the scale, drivers with 1-3 points on their licence can expect to pay up to £25 per year more for their car insurance. Altogether, drivers in this category are paying an additional £49.5 million in insurance costs around the country. Again, London, Glasgow and Birmingham see the steepest insurance rises for drivers with points on their licence.
Changes to speeding fines
The cost of speeding fines also needs to be considered. Under new rules brought into force in April 2017, the maximum fine for a speeding offence on a normal road is £1,000. However, if yor’re caught speeding on the motorway, the fine can be up to £2,500. The standard fine is £100 and three points on your licence, with the option of the speed awareness course being offered in some cases. Suddenly that course cost doesn’t seem so bad!
The new speeding fine system considers your income and places you in one of three bands. If you’re caught speeding in a highly populated area, at a high speed and with a certain level of income, you could see a much higher fine. Therefore, even accounting for regional variations, the speed awareness course can be the cheaper option.
Have you taken a speed awareness course in order to avoid penalty points? What were you charged for the privilege? Leave a comment to share your views.
£80 for a speed awareness course in Somerset .
I am retired on an income of just over £10k per year. A few years ago, I was caught on camera for doing just 34 in a 30 zone. What they did not take into account was that the 30mph sign was completely obscured by bushy growth, I was coming straight from a 50mph zone, and the camera was stationed just 50 yds from the obscured 30mph sign. It was a really small village. There was no other traffic on the road at all, and not a single pedestrian. I’m convinced it was a trap set up purely to make money. I doubt if many people would have managed to react quickly enough to avoid it.
I was given the choice of a £60 fine plus 3 points on my licence, or pay £80 for a speed awareness course. I do not want points on my licence. I’ve never had points on my licence. I do not deserve points on my licence. I am one of the most careful drivers in the country. Heaven knows what it would have done to my insurance. I opted for the speed awareness course. Needless to say I did not get a single thing out of it. They did not teach me anything I didn’t already know. Being a retired teacher, I reckon I could have run the course just as well myself. They are trapping and screwing the wrong people. Why is it that it’s always the people who are the REAL speed merchants who never seem to get caught? I reckon they must have technology that warns them in advance when the cameras are coming.
I would really like to see the true speeders start getting their just deserts, and the minor transgressors being treated with far greater leniency. And before you say anything, I did complain about the obscured 30mph sign, but I had no proof. When I went back a week later, all the growth had miraculously been cleared away!!
I got caught in similar circumstances. Plod waved on the car in front, I asked why wave him on & pull me, he said “You were going 8mph faster than him”. I’d been following that car for 8 miles! Why me? I was on a motorbike.
Everyone moans when they get caught, but be a man and accept your penalty for breaking the law, whining about being “trapped”? seriously? If you beleive that strongly that it wasnt your fault (you would only need to prove your innocence on the balance of probabilities), why wouldnt you have fought it in court, or are the Courts corrupt as well?
Because it costs a fortune to defend yourself in court and the police know this. Also, with so little faith in the useless justice system, is there any point in even considering a defence!
That’s not a valid argument in this case. You can break the law by putting the wrong rubbish in the wrong bin if you’re discovered by the bin police but you wouldn’t expect them to be hiding around the corner eager for an easy kill. There are scales of law breaking just as there are scales of justice. According to the super Sun it’s a £1 billion cash cow for somebody and we should be expecting more common sense. Violent crime is rising and sentences are falling because it costs money to keep prisoners in jail so they can get a third of their sentence for pleasing guilty and a third for a first offence and then they’re out again to do what they want. Try fining them harshly instead and reimbursing the victims of crime instead of dropping it in Hammonds pocket.
I recently got done for 72 in a motorway with the limit lowered to 60 on the overhead gantry according to Surrey police. They sent me a link to a picture of my vehicle on the motorway with hardly any traffic around it and another pic of the gantry with the 60 limit up on it. My van is nowhere to be seen in this pic. The traffic level is much heavier and they shadows on the vehicles are longer meaning its taken at a different time of day. When i pointed this out via e-mail they replied that they are satisfied that there is sufficient proof to them to justify the speeding offence. How can this be the case based on the above. It’s s all a cash cow for under funded police forces who are now all target based and won’t pursue hard to police crimes with limited chance of conviction. Motorists are easy targets and easy money.
Contact the Police Complaints commission and log a complaint. Do not be put off by any internal investigation that says there is nothing to complain about. I was stopped when slightly over the speed limit on an empty road on my motorbike. Fair do.
However, the ticket had a box ticked that said I had signed the docket when I hadn’t. I pushed this through the PCC and they admitted I had a valid point and the officer was sent for retraining and shown to be a technology luddite. The original response from Police trying to fob me off was also criticised. So if you believe the police are stitching you up, MAKE A COMPLAINT and have it investigated. It’s not the first time I have challenged the police authorities and made them look stupid. And no – I did not query the validity of the speeding ticket as that was correctly issued. I just hate dishonesty in the police which seems to be rising year by year.
A dashcam might have helped you. I agree that there are far too many drivers who deliberately speed as a matter of policy and get away with it. However, as a retired teacher, should you not check your spelling (desserts is the word I think you should have used, not deserts.)?
J. Griffin CAN spell. A desserts are to be eaten; desERTs are things deserved. Don’t be misled by the stress on the second syllable. On many roads there are so many changes of speed limit you need to concentrate properly to remember what the limit is. After my wife (not a deliberate speeder) got caught on a straight empty stretch coming into the village we lived in, I went to talk to the officer manning the little white camera van. He told me they allow one tenth of a mile inside the speed limit area for the driver being observed to slow down. He showed me his equipment and his clear view about half a mile up a dead straight length of road.
I took a course in Sept 2017 after doing 37 mph in a 30 limit. The course tutor said that the Fine or Speed Awareness Course was for safety and not income as they can only place radar traps in places where there have 10 accidents or more. Mine was on a rural road going downhill at 10.50am on a Sunday morning. The road was empty and yet they had a manned Radar trap. Why would they go to the expense of a manned radar trap unless they knew they could make it profitable? They know where people exceed the speed limit and place traps there. The tutor also said that on one of the courses he had a Chief Constable. I think that statement borders on the bounds of credibility.
£90 for the Speed Awareness – Cheshire
£90 in Leics/Northants not £75 as this suggests.
Drivers are now required to confirm whether they have been on a speed awareness course when insuring a car. Not sure if this would increase the cost of insurance similar to points on your license as I have never been on a speed awareness course.
Hi just been on speed awareness course cost at basildon essex £91 and was told you don’t tell insurance as there is no points and no speeding fine from pete southend on sea
Not true, most insurers do not want to know about courses. Most obvious one that does is the Admiral group
its 110.00 in Dorset
I attended a couses in Dorset atblanford in september cost £110
£80 for a speed awareness course in Lancaster
Seems ludicrous to suggest the national average cost for the course is £45. I paid £100 in Leicestershire. Even more ludicrous to suggest it’s not for profit. Just like some other commenters, I was caught by a chap hiding behind a hedge on an empty rural road on s Sunday morning for doing 35 on a steep downhill road that switched from 50mph for no apparent reason.
Same here,or very similar circumstances,not even a sparrow in sight.
I wouldn’t refer to him as “a chap”. I think you need to have a certain jobs worth outlook to be a policeman, traffic warden or parking attendant. I’m retired but where I used to (an NHS Hospital) they had a parking supervisor who would come in in his own time at 5.00am to catch the night staff who hadn’t paid for parking in an empty car park. Sad isn’t the word.
This is what we call Jobs Worth should give him a kick up the a**e
No you were not! I operate a speed camera and know the tolerance allowed but I am not about to tell you.. In addition Speedometers normally read high. My own reads 33 when I am doing a certified 30.
No, don’t tell anyone….much better to have people exceed the speed limit so you can collect their hard earned money which is taxed to the hilt anyway to pay your wages! Keeps you in a job too eh? Win win situation for you.
£84 in northumberland, but when the fine is £100 its still a no brainer. The cost hasnt changed for an age it was the same when the fine was £60 but the £8 a point was well worth it.
£90 on Isle of Wight – but still worth it – and the course was GOOD.
The course was interesting, and I now try harder to stick to the limits, very difficult when in a stream of traffic exceeding the limit. Do I keep up or do I slow down and have a convoy of vehicles very close behind me all itching to get past at the first slight opportunity regardless of blind bends and summits? That can be much more dangerous surely. I’d be interested to know how many serious injury accidents occur as a result of speed limit breakers passing those obeying the signs. My course was £99.00 in Essex, the alternative was wherever Amersham offenders go, no idea what that would have cost. I was puzzled by the letter that assured me the speed camera was not hidden (why mention it?). I checked Google and went up and down the road looking. Eventually a white speed camera sign was spotted almost completely covered by leaves from the bush that surrounded it. The actual camera was then spotted at very short distance down the road in what appeared to be a front garden, behind a tree again partially hidden by the leaves and the dappled effect of the sunlight on what little was visible. Maybe when I went through the foliage had been cut back, maybe it was worse. I’ll never know as I rarely use that road, (maybe once/twice a year).
Shouldn’t they be putting the same resources into finding robbers, muggers, drug dealers, knife crime, gun crime, murderers, violent thugs as they are into traffic offences or isn’t that as easy and lucrative as taxing the motorist even more. Since I’ve done my speed awareness course (£79 on Merseyside and Cheshire or £100 fine and 3 points) I’ve monitored police cars , not blue light emergency cars just standard police cars, by the way and they regularly exceed the speed limit when they are apparently not on urgent business.
They could get injured going after said robbers, muggers, drug dealers, knife crime, gun crime, murderers, violent thugs. Much safer hitting the motorists.
And more lucrative I should have said.
Yes I agree, think I should set up an awareness course school myself lol
The police are there to collect revenue….they’re not crime fighters any more. I live in Inverness and it’s rare to see bobbies on the beat….plenty running around in cars though! Plenty of traffic wardens too …more revenue collectors! I was caught speeding almost 2 years ago and was fined £100 with 3 points….wasn’t given the option to attend one of these courses…is it something you can volunteer for or does it just depend on the mood of the copper giving you the ticket?
once you’ve done the course, it’s no longer an option if you’re caught a second time, within a certain time limit from the first, and also depending on just how fast your were going over the speed limit, the greater the percentage of your speed over the limit, the less options you have – sometimes there is no option even for points -you just go straight to Court
This change in speeding fines is nothing more than the government another form of revenue to fill their coffers. These fines they are imposing on drivers are not going to improve safety or stop speeding as every one of us speed some time or other. I have followed and checked the speed of police cars and very few follow the speed limits.In addition, these ridiculous fines are only going to cause hardship to individuals and families as they deprive them of funds that they need to live in most cases. Now we ask the question, where do all the fines go and what will they be used for?
More Cameras?
Yes please
yes.. at junctions to stop selfish idiots stopping in the middle of the junction blocking cross traffic, with a green light, from actually moving….
There is a very easy way to get rid of speed awareness courses and traffic cameras for good !
If every motorist in the country stuck to the speed limits posted for about two years the funding for cameras and awareness courses would dry up and they would be removed as unnecessary expenses.
And Norfolk courses cost £90 not £185 , as my wife got caught doing 34 in a 30,
Sorry meant STICK not STUCK
Policemen’s Ball?
Don’t speed and you don’t need to pay a penny in fines it’s as simple as that
I attended a Speed Awareness Course a few days ago. I had been ‘clocked’ in Staffordshire but opted to attend a course in Warwickshire as it was more convenient. I paid £83 (instead of £80) but saved a lot of time and mileage. Most counties allow offenders to attend courses elsewhere in the UK so shop around if you are in a particularly expensive area. It is not true to say that all insurers require attendance at such courses to be reported. My own insurers (LV=) do not and this is stated explicitly on their website. In my case the fixed penalty would have been £100 plus 3 points so the course was a sensible option. It was also informative and interesting.
A colleague told me that when he advised his insurer, he had his premium reduced by 10%. Was told having been on a course, he is less likely to speed again.
Speed awareness course was £75 in Crewe when I did it in May 2014. One numpty didn’t turn up so that cost him £75 + the fine + the 3 points. Caught on an open country road approaching Nantwich from Middlewich that had been reduced from 40 to 30, plod will always make use of that scenario.
Amazing how Police have the resources to man all these cameras while treating burglary of our homes with total disregard, just a crime number for insurance purposes.
I couldn’t agree more! They’re always claiming not to have any money what do they do with al the money that they “earn” in fined? Drive around in fancy cars for one!
West Midlands Police have admitted they have not logged over 38,000 crimes in the past year, but can still find time to stand on street corners with a speed camera, or hidden inside a van. Their excuse for not attending a crime is (as you may guess) lack of resources and no money in the budget. If you get mugged, do nothing, don’t whine, stay with the ambulance paramedics and do not have a go back at the mugger, or the police will arrest you on a charge of actual assault! We did better when we had a contingent of red beret Vigilantes who visited us from New York.
£95 for the course in Bedfordshire 2 years ago but still so much better than having points on my licence. Caught doing 36 in a 30 speed limit my own stupidity as I knew the camera was there. One chap on the course had been clocked twice in the same day speeding through the same camera lol. I think variable speed cameras are the way to go especially in towns and villages
Where did they get the £35 / £45 from? The 2 courses I’ve been on over the last 8 years were £100 and £80!! If it had only been £45 I’d have been quit chuffed! Still, being done for 56mph on a 50 zone was taking the mickey if you ask me – 10% would be 55 +2 should be 57 before you get done! I think the police make up the rules as they go along. This was at a favourite place for the Fuzz to sit, they know they are gonna catch loads of people – A36 just north of Bath heading North on the long up-hill 2-lane section – they sit on the south side raised up and can still get you! Watch out for them next time you are there!!
I thought a 50 mph speed limit was 50 mph, not 57.
it is but some people think you can just add 10% extra to the speed limit and get away with it
The 10% is already built into the speedometer. If it says 50 then you’re actually driving at 55. So getting caught at 57 means that your speedo actually said about 62, which is well over the 50 limit!
True, many speedos have 10% error but it is usually lower than the true speed. I was annoyed at roadside speed indicators that showed my speed to be 10% lower then when I installed Tomtom and that read the same as the roadside indicators it became clear my speedo was reading low.
Since accuracy is vital why are manufacturers allowed to sell misleading speedos?
To reduce the chance of you getting nicked!!!!
I paid £85 for the course in Cheshire.
For doing 61mph in a 50mph speed restricted zone on the motorway which my satnav didn’t pick up, so didn’t know it was slower than normal.
Good job I wasn’t doing 70mph!!!
Presumably there were some sort of road signs!
I atended a speed awareness course in Hartlepool about 3 years ago, I think it was £90.00. it had a very positive effect and I now keep to the speed limits. Now that i’m completey used to sticking to the speed limits, and it took me a while, it’s much less stressfull driving without having to look for speed cameras etc all the time.
I can also fully understand why traffic police are passionate about speeders when they have witnessed first hand some of the tragedies not just at very high speeds, but many on 30mph roads involving children. I no longer call these police jobs worths. Stick to the speed limits and the government won’t make a penny from you and you will also notice a big drop in your fuel bill.
Having been caught by a mobile van camera in North Yorks I attended a course in Nottinghamshire, my home county. I paid £90 for this. We were told on the course that we did NOT have to declare attendance to our insurance company unless they specifically asked us. I think the £35 up to £45 is what goes to the Police, the rest goes to the organisations who run the courses.
Caught in Worksop doing 37 in a 30 zone. Took speed awareness course £95 . OK it was wrong but the mobile camera is hidden and on a dual carrigeway only about 100 yards from the start of a 40 mph area. Lots of strangers must be caught here. Just a point about fixed cameras is that locals know where the are and slow down and then speed up so it would seem a waste of time fitting them. Cash cow only.
Paul
You still have to advise your insurance company and many increase premiums whether or not you take the points or attend a driver awareness course. So unless you regularly speed it is cheaper to accept points.
AS far as I am aware the Speed Awareness Courses are only available in England and Wales, so don’t get caught up here in Scotland. At least that was the case four years ago
Where does £35 / £45 for the course come from, I see there are regional variations, my son, whom is so aware of the road regulations, and is a stickler for obeying them, went through a set of lights just as they went red, his fault , he put his hands up, and of cause opted for the speed awareness course, his cost £120
In Nottingham, although costly, he was grateful that no points went on his licence, as that would incur a lot more expense in insurance etc,
the cost I think you will find now for speed awareness course is between £80 to £100
I was caught by a mobile camera in Bristol was clocked at 26mph in a 20mph zone, have elected to do a speed awareness course ( yet to attend ) and paid £88 for the privilege. We can all moan as much as we like that this is about revenue raising rather than safety, but the fact is we all broke the limit whether we agree with it or not, so through our own stupidity are contributing to the revenue stream! I had a momentary lapse in concentration and it resulted in my first speeding ticket in nearly 40 years of driving! But I was speeding end of story.
The extra insurance costs will effect all the policies on which you are a named driver .
Caught by a manned camera which was not correctly made visible to motorists, doing 60 mph on a 60mph road but where the speed limit had been varied to 50mph, in Oxfordshire. Paid £93 to take a speed course in Bedfordshire.
I had my insurance with Admiral increased by £10 because I had been on a Speed Awareness Course, information they requested. I tried to argue that this was additional training but it did not wash with them.
If you get caught speeding inroad repairs and say you didn’t see the sign , you should get done for driving without due care and attention too! Any way speeding at 50 + to catch up with another car doing 50 what’s the point.
A fair cop: clocked at 34 entering quiet Bucks village 30-zone, ACPO guidelines clearly a “guide” only, & not observed by all forces, so just don’t risk it. Thames Valley Police have a £105 course attendance fee but half-day course – various venues – itself was very worthwhile and would recommend attending one, but BEFORE being caught!
I was also caught speeding by a mobile van I attended a course in Hampshire which cost £80.I was also told i neednt notify my insurance company of the speeding offence as i had attended this course
After traveling on the M60/M62 for over a year on the long term ‘temporary’ 50mph mainly off-peak about 10:30pm I admit my speed crept up to 60mph as anyone who just wants to get home from work might do…
Suddenly they switched the cameras on and got me at 58mph on an empty motorway four nights in a row!!!! Grrrrrr!!!
I did the course first, then paid three fines at £100 each and I’ve got 9 points on my license!!!
I now drive like a saint… 😉
All sympathy greatly accepted!!
I thought this article was going to be about those ‘solicitors’ that say they can get you off the points…
I did get a quote… £2800!!! For a chance to get three points canceled so I took the chance!
You restore my faith! You are the first person I have heard of getting caught on this stretch of road (which has been bedevilled by 50 mph on and off for years now) and being passed by drivers doing well over 50 (60? 70?) time and time again. At one point I thought of doing an FoI request to find out how many (if any) had been caught and prosecuted.
Seriously, I drove this road for years up to 2016, daytime westbound, night time eastbound while they were replacing street lamps and building the managed motorway in S Yorks. At one point there were 22 consecutive miles of 50mph – try keeping your concentration sharp on a deserted road at 2am with that.
Not sure where £35 and £45 came from. 2.5 years ago got caught doing 52MPH on 50MPH speed average zone, the Speed awareness course was £100 and I just barely made it because it stated that from April 2015 the price will go up-to £150 and the nearest available course was on 28th of March.
There’s a camera on the A4 as you leave Saltford, a village between Bristol & Bath. The camera is situated at the bottom of a hill, about 150 yards before you leave the 30mph limit. There’s just one minor road junction & a few houses set back on one side. In the village centre, there’s many junctions, houses lining both sides of the road, three parades of shops, a pub & a car main dealer’s showroom, plus a pedestrian crossing. Driving at more than 30mph could be deemed as too fast here, but there’s no camera. I wonder why they put the camera at the bottom of a hill just before exiting the speed limit where there’s virtually no dangers instead of in the centre of the village? I’ll leave you to make up your own minds on that one.
It doesn’t really matter where the camera is. If you stick to the speed limit the camera won’t be a problem
I paid £85 for a course a couple of months back in West Yorks. I got a lot out of it, I can honestly say it has altered my driving style. I found it interesting the average age of the drivers there too. Most have the concept that it’s young, inexperienced drivers that are the main culprits, but there were only 2 drivers in the room with less than 10 years’ experience. The rest were much older, 1 gent had over 50 years’ experience!
£90 in oxford
If you cannot really afford all the expense of owning a car why bother owning one its a just a status symbol the flasher the car you own the better you think you are but you are just another fool spending money that you do not really have
I’m due to attend a speed awareness course in Lincoln. My speed crept up to 68 in a 60 at approximately 3am on an empty road. I’m always very careful about speeding so it was a genuine mistake. It’s cost me £90 for the course. Why so high in Lincolnshire.????
this why cruise control should be standard for every vehicle.
Don’t speed then there will be no courses to pay for
Holier than thou, then?
You are lucky to have Courses ana a chance to avoid points. In Scotland we have no such Courses.
No-one likes being caught by a speed trap and we all like to complain. I can complain as well – I slowed to 40 for a 40 limit and then when I accelerated to go up a hill I got caught on a camera at 46. £80 and 3 points or a speed awareness course at £103 plus my expenses in getting there – no brainer!!
I did the course – it taught me things I had forgotten and reminded me how much an increase in speed lengthens stopping distances and how hitting a pedestrian at 40 will result in a double impact (and likely death) but at 30 it will be a single impact and likely survival.
The additional cost of the SAC was used to buy camera vans. The area I lived in then is a rural area and people love to do 60 or 70 on back lanes where the visibility is 50 feet!! Get the cameras out but get them in the places where speed is dangerous please!!
Just for fun.. I think it was a game show on TV where a contestant, chatting with the host admitted she had just been on a speed awareness course… then got a speeding ticket on the way home…!
That worked then!!!
£80 for a speed awareness course in Somerset .
I am retired on an income of just over £10k per year. A few years ago, I was caught on camera for doing just 34 in a 30 zone. What they did not take into account was that the 30mph sign was completely obscured by bushy growth, I was coming straight from a 50mph zone, and the camera was stationed just 50 yds from the obscured 30mph sign. It was a really small village. There was no other traffic on the road at all, and not a single pedestrian. I’m convinced it was a trap set up purely to make money. I doubt if many people would have managed to react quickly enough to avoid it.
I was given the choice of a £60 fine plus 3 points on my licence, or pay £80 for a speed awareness course. I do not want points on my licence. I’ve never had points on my licence. I do not deserve points on my licence. I am one of the most careful drivers in the country. Heaven knows what it would have done to my insurance. I opted for the speed awareness course. Needless to say I did not get a single thing out of it. They did not teach me anything I didn’t already know. Being a retired teacher, I reckon I could have run the course just as well myself. They are trapping and screwing the wrong people. Why is it that it’s always the people who are the REAL speed merchants who never seem to get caught? I reckon they must have technology that warns them in advance when the cameras are coming.
I would really like to see the true speeders start getting their just deserts, and the minor transgressors being treated with far greater leniency. And before you say anything, I did complain about the obscured 30mph sign, but I had no proof. When I went back a week later, all the growth had miraculously been cleared away!!
I got caught in similar circumstances. Plod waved on the car in front, I asked why wave him on & pull me, he said “You were going 8mph faster than him”. I’d been following that car for 8 miles! Why me? I was on a motorbike.
Everyone moans when they get caught, but be a man and accept your penalty for breaking the law, whining about being “trapped”? seriously? If you beleive that strongly that it wasnt your fault (you would only need to prove your innocence on the balance of probabilities), why wouldnt you have fought it in court, or are the Courts corrupt as well?
Because it costs a fortune to defend yourself in court and the police know this. Also, with so little faith in the useless justice system, is there any point in even considering a defence!
That’s not a valid argument in this case. You can break the law by putting the wrong rubbish in the wrong bin if you’re discovered by the bin police but you wouldn’t expect them to be hiding around the corner eager for an easy kill. There are scales of law breaking just as there are scales of justice. According to the super Sun it’s a £1 billion cash cow for somebody and we should be expecting more common sense. Violent crime is rising and sentences are falling because it costs money to keep prisoners in jail so they can get a third of their sentence for pleasing guilty and a third for a first offence and then they’re out again to do what they want. Try fining them harshly instead and reimbursing the victims of crime instead of dropping it in Hammonds pocket.
I recently got done for 72 in a motorway with the limit lowered to 60 on the overhead gantry according to Surrey police. They sent me a link to a picture of my vehicle on the motorway with hardly any traffic around it and another pic of the gantry with the 60 limit up on it. My van is nowhere to be seen in this pic. The traffic level is much heavier and they shadows on the vehicles are longer meaning its taken at a different time of day. When i pointed this out via e-mail they replied that they are satisfied that there is sufficient proof to them to justify the speeding offence. How can this be the case based on the above. It’s s all a cash cow for under funded police forces who are now all target based and won’t pursue hard to police crimes with limited chance of conviction. Motorists are easy targets and easy money.
Contact the Police Complaints commission and log a complaint. Do not be put off by any internal investigation that says there is nothing to complain about. I was stopped when slightly over the speed limit on an empty road on my motorbike. Fair do.
However, the ticket had a box ticked that said I had signed the docket when I hadn’t. I pushed this through the PCC and they admitted I had a valid point and the officer was sent for retraining and shown to be a technology luddite. The original response from Police trying to fob me off was also criticised. So if you believe the police are stitching you up, MAKE A COMPLAINT and have it investigated. It’s not the first time I have challenged the police authorities and made them look stupid. And no – I did not query the validity of the speeding ticket as that was correctly issued. I just hate dishonesty in the police which seems to be rising year by year.
A dashcam might have helped you. I agree that there are far too many drivers who deliberately speed as a matter of policy and get away with it. However, as a retired teacher, should you not check your spelling (desserts is the word I think you should have used, not deserts.)?
J. Griffin CAN spell. A desserts are to be eaten; desERTs are things deserved. Don’t be misled by the stress on the second syllable. On many roads there are so many changes of speed limit you need to concentrate properly to remember what the limit is. After my wife (not a deliberate speeder) got caught on a straight empty stretch coming into the village we lived in, I went to talk to the officer manning the little white camera van. He told me they allow one tenth of a mile inside the speed limit area for the driver being observed to slow down. He showed me his equipment and his clear view about half a mile up a dead straight length of road.
I took a course in Sept 2017 after doing 37 mph in a 30 limit. The course tutor said that the Fine or Speed Awareness Course was for safety and not income as they can only place radar traps in places where there have 10 accidents or more. Mine was on a rural road going downhill at 10.50am on a Sunday morning. The road was empty and yet they had a manned Radar trap. Why would they go to the expense of a manned radar trap unless they knew they could make it profitable? They know where people exceed the speed limit and place traps there. The tutor also said that on one of the courses he had a Chief Constable. I think that statement borders on the bounds of credibility.
£90 for the Speed Awareness – Cheshire
£90 in Leics/Northants not £75 as this suggests.
Drivers are now required to confirm whether they have been on a speed awareness course when insuring a car. Not sure if this would increase the cost of insurance similar to points on your license as I have never been on a speed awareness course.
Hi just been on speed awareness course cost at basildon essex £91 and was told you don’t tell insurance as there is no points and no speeding fine from pete southend on sea
Not true, most insurers do not want to know about courses. Most obvious one that does is the Admiral group