Foreign Drivers in UK Evade Speeding Fines
A recent Freedom of Information request from the Institute of Advanced Motorists to the police about the number of foreign motorists on UK roads escaping speeding fines has revealed a shocking amount of offences that are not pursued by the police, due to the fact that the foreign number plates are not registered with the DVLA, which means that it would require significant, and evidently unmanageable, amounts of effort for the police to attempt to track down the offending vehicles.
The information, published by the IAM, shows that more than 23,000 foreign drivers have escaped speeding fines since January 2013, which resulted in £2.3 million unpaid fines.
Director of policy and research at the IAM, Neil Greig, has already called for action in response to the latest figures:
“The high numbers of oversees speeders on our roads show how important it is that the UK joins up with the rest of Europe to harmonize motoring offences and give the police extra powers to pursue dangerous drivers.
“Progress on this issue has been very slow and in the meantime thousands of drivers are avoiding fines and bans simply because their cars cannot be easily traced.”
This table shows the highest speed at which drivers drove in particular areas, and the number of offences in each of these areas.
| Region | Top recorded speed (mph) | Number of offences |
| Kent | 111 | 1,954 |
| Surrey | 109 | 541 |
| Thames Valley | 100 | 3,580 |
| Hampshire | 100 | 994 |
| Gwent | 99 | 2,090 |
| Metropolitan | 98 | 1,586 |
| Devon and Cornwall | 97 | 692 |
| Gloucestershire | 96 | 92 |
| Leicestershire | 95 | 969 |
| Sussex | 91 | 741 |
| Humberside | 90 | 584 |
| Merseyside | 87 | 2,477 |
| Norfolk | 84 | 380 |
| Northamptonshire | 84 | 447 |
| Nottinghamshire | 83 | 1,423 |
| South Yorkshire | 82 | 198 |
| Greater Manchester | 74 | Not available |
| Derbyshire | 74 | 76 |
| Durham | 61 | 12 |
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We are grateful to Alex Moore, who recently joined us for work experience, for this blog post.
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