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Driving Offences: North West

Volume 486: debated on Thursday 15 January 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were (a) cautioned and (b) fined for speeding in (i) Stockport Metropolitan Borough, (ii) Greater Manchester and (iii) the North West in each of the last five years. (246077)

Speeding offences, under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and Motor Vehicles (Speed Limit on Motorways) Regulations 1973, can be dealt with by way of written warnings, court proceedings or the issuing of a fixed penalty notice.

Available information collected centrally on the Court Proceedings Database, held by the Ministry of Justice, on the number of persons given a court fine for speed limit offences within the Greater Manchester police force area and the North West region from 2003 to 2007 (latest available) is provided as follows in table 1.

Information collected centrally by the Home Office on the number of fixed penalty notices issued for speeding offences, by area, for the period 2002 to 2006 is contained in table 2. Data for 2007 are due to be published in the spring of 2009.

Formal cautions are not given for motoring offences.

Data collected centrally are available at police force area level only.

Table 1: Number of magistrates courts imposed fines1 for speed limit offences2 within the Greater Manchester police force area, and the north west region3, 2003 to 20074, 5

Number of offences

Area

Number of fines1

2003

Greater Manchester

6,265

North West Region

19,025

2004

Greater Manchester

4,745

North West Region

17,187

2005

Greater Manchester

7,220

North West Region

17,983

2006

Greater Manchester

6,699

North West Region

19,201

2007

Greater Manchester

4,521

North West Region

20,600

1 Magistrates courts data only. Fines given at the Crown Court total nationally (England and Wales) less than 10 each year.

2 Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 ss. 16, 81, 84, 86, 88.& 89; Motor Vehicles (Speed Limit on Motorways) Regs. 1973; Parks Regulation (Amendment) Act 1926—byelaws made thereunder.

3 Includes, Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside police force areas.

4 It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete.

5 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Source:

Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis unit.

Table 2: Fixed penalty notices issued1 for speed limit offences2 in Greater Manchester and the north west local government office region, 2002 to 2006

Number of offences

Police force area

20023

20033

2004

2005

2006

Greater Manchester

35,861

44,903

43,531

59,478

60,282

North west region4

219,883

204,702

186,659

193,954

211,582

1 Only covers notices paid where there is no further action.

2 Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and the Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.

3 Revised since original publication following amendments received from forces.

4 Includes following police force areas: Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire

Note:

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Source:

Home Office Statistics.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people resident in (a) Stockport Metropolitan Borough, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) the North West were (i) arrested under suspicion and (ii) convicted of driving when drunk in each quarter of the last five years. (246078)

The number of convictions, at all courts, for offences of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs for the years 2003 to 2007, by area, is contained in the following table. Data provided covers both drink and drugs offences combined as volumes of prosecutions and convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs cannot be accurately established separately.

Information is available on a calendar year basis and at police force area level only. It does not identify where those convicted are resident.

The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally. The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery. Offences relating to drink driving are non notifiable and do not form part of the arrests collection.

Findings of guilt at all courts for offences of driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs1, within the Greater Manchester police force area, and the north west region, 2003 to 20072, 3

Number of offences

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Greater Manchester

4,743

4,811

4,653

4,570

4,462

North west region4

12,830

13,401

12,902

12,807

12,431

1 Data provided covers summary offences of driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs (which cannot be reliably distinguished separately).

2 It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete.

3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

4 Includes, Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside police force areas.

Source:

Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis unit.