The number of magistrates courts imposed fines for speed limit offences by police force area in England and Wales for 2007 are given in the following table. Court proceedings data for 2008 are scheduled to be published in the autumn of 2009.
It is not possible to identify separately the payment rate of fines arising from speeding offences. The latest enforcement rate for all financial penalties imposed by the courts is 85 per cent for the period April-December 2008.
In addition to court fines, police officers have the power to issue fixed penalty notices under section 54 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 for speeding offences. The decision as to whether to issue a fixed penalty notice is a matter for the police. Currently the amount payable for a fixed penalty notice for speeding is £60.
Information on the number of fixed penalty notices issued in 2006 (latest available) broken down by police force area is provided in table 2. Data for 2007 are scheduled to be published in April 2009 with 2008 data to be announced.
Police force area Number of fines1 Avon and Somerset 5,761 Bedfordshire 4,238 Cambridgeshire 4,181 Cheshire 3,136 Cleveland 1,194 Cumbria 2,470 Derbyshire 2,846 Devon and Cornwall 3,940 Dorset 2,340 Durham 650 Essex 7,247 Gloucestershire 1,111 Greater Manchester 4,521 Hampshire 4,789 Hertfordshire 2,525 Humberside 2,182 Kent 3,181 Lancashire 7,463 Leicestershire 1,802 Lincolnshire 3,800 London, City of 460 Merseyside 3,010 Metropolitan police 5,882 Norfolk 2,669 Northamptonshire 2,919 Northumbria 3,570 North Yorkshire 2,004 Nottinghamshire 3,387 South Yorkshire 4,167 Staffordshire 4,540 Suffolk 3,401 Surrey 3,514 Sussex 3,965 Thames Valley 5,883 Warwickshire 1,340 West Mercia 2,651 West Midlands 4,652 West Yorkshire 5,638 Wiltshire 5,005 Dyfed Powys 945 Gwent 1,125 North Wales 4,345 South Wales 2,394 Total England and Wales 146,843 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 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. 4 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. [Ref; IOS 98-09]
Police force area Number Avon and Somerset 52,606 Bedfordshire 48,407 Cambridgeshire 20,502 Cheshire 28,570 Cleveland 19,044 Cumbria 32,023 Derbyshire 31,484 Devon and Cornwall 42,467 Dorset 51,599 Durham 2,817 Essex 60,705 Gloucestershire 13,406 Greater Manchester 60,282 Hampshire 49,404 Hertfordshire 81,805 Humberside 36,718 Kent 47,179 Lancashire 57,658 Leicestershire 24,605 Lincolnshire 25,750 London, City of 5,089 Merseyside 33,049 Metropolitan 102,482 Norfolk 24,985 North Yorkshire 42,242 Northamptonshire 51,880 Northumbria 5,256 Nottinghamshire 42,916 South Yorkshire 51,462 Staffordshire 50,823 Suffolk 34,442 Surrey 39,520 Sussex 48,627 Thames Valley 137,312 Warwickshire 30,316 West Mercia 46,213 West Midlands 44,497 West Yorkshire 49,528 Wiltshire 51,458 Dyfed Powys 1,054 Gwent 531 North Wales 59,491 South Wales 33,208 England and Wales 1,773,412 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. 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.