In April of this year the Government introduced a new set of guidelines for tackling speeding offences in England and Wales. This passed many people by, and of those who do know about the changes, many are confused by how the new system works. So here at hpi we’re going to spell it all out for you, in our usual public-spirited way.
The first thing you need to know is that the tougher penalties apply only to drivers who go a bit crazy behind the wheel and exceed the speed limit by a big margin. So if you stray just a few miles an hour over the limit, nothing has changed. You’ll probably still be offered a speed awareness course if you’re caught under the threshold and you haven’t already taken part in one within the last three years.
If you’re not offered a course you’ll be handed a fixed penalty which means your wallet will be £100 lighter and you’ll get three points on your license. The camera partnerships that set up fixed and mobile cameras around the UK are funded by these speed awareness courses so they’re very keen for you to choose that option; elect to pay a fine and take the points instead, and your cash goes straight to the Treasury, thus reducing the partnership’s income by a typical £35. No wonder they want you to do the course instead.
For a full run down of the new sentencing guidelines it’s all spelled out on the Sentencing Council website, while there is more general information about speeding penalties on the official government website.

Band of gold
The sentencing falls into three bands and these new, heftier fines apply only to the top band, which is Band C. This is for drivers caught breaking the speed limit by the biggest margin, which means at least 41mph in a 20mph zone, 91mph or more on a national speed limit (60mph) road and 101mph or more on a motorway (see the Sentencing Council website for all other speed limits). If your offence falls into this band you can expect either six points on your licence or a ban of 7-56 days, plus a fine of 125-175% of your weekly income, with a £2500 cap.
Band B is for those caught at 31-40mph in a 20 zone, 81-90mph on a national speed limit road and 91-100mph on a motorway. The penalty here is 4-6 points or a ban for 7-28 days along with a fine of 75-125% of your weekly income.
Band A is for drivers who stray over the limit by the smallest amount, which means up to 30mph in a 20 zone, 61-80mph in a 60 and 71-90mph on the motorway. This will result in three points on your license and a fine of 25-75% of your weekly income, with a £1000 cap.
It’s worth noting that most low-level speeding tickets are dealt with by the fixed penalty system, which means no court appearance – you just get three points on your licence and pay a £100 fine. The larger numbers of penalty points and bigger fines only kick in if you go to court. You’ll have no choice if you’re driving way over the limit as the local magistrates will want to talk to you if you’re a serious speed demon. This means if you’re caught driving at 35mph or more in a 20 zone, at least 50mph in a 30 and 26mph or more on any other road. So get caught driving at 96mph or more on a motorway and you’ll be in front of the bench whether you like it or not. For some context, the average speeding fine in 2015 was £188, with the courts sentencing 166,695 speeding offenders in that year.
Over the threshold
If you’re now assuming that you’ve got to drive like a lunatic to be affected, it’s not quite like that. Firstly, you can be nicked for straying over the limit by just 1mph. That won’t happen of course, but it’s clear that the official guidelines aren’t always adhered to by the camera partnerships, which are supposed to give you 10% +2mph before they spring into action. So on an urban road with a 30mph limit they shouldn’t intervene until you’re doing 35mph and on a 70mph dual-carriageway they shouldn’t be interested until you’re doing at least 79mph. Yet they can routinely fine drivers for lower speeds.
The thresholds at which drivers are prosecuted has been reduced in recent years, so it’s no wonder vast numbers of speeding tickets are now being issued. The most recent year for which the figures are available, there were 791,000 tickets given out. When the numbers for 2016 are released there’s likely to be a significant increase, as the number of drivers being caught in Smart motorway variable limits has shot up. Camera partnerships have also bought more high-tech digital cameras that don’t need to have their film replaced – paid for by the speed awareness courses undertaken by drivers previously caught.
It’s a lucrative business, fuelled by speed limits constantly being reduced under the assumption that lives will be saved as a result. All over the UK local authorities are constantly besieged by requests for 30mph limits to be cut to 20, or for other speed limit reductions, and things are unlikely to change any time soon. As a result it’s not unusual to drive along a section of road that was national speed limit (60mph) for years, but which is now just 30 or 40mph.
Drive over the speed limit and there’s no denying that you’re breaking the law. Whether or not that law is fair is another matter but one thing is for sure – if you want to hold onto your licence and not have to pay out a chunk of cash unnecessarily, stick to the speed limits and you’ll be okay. Even if doing so can be getting harder and harder as speed limits fall ever further.
Richard Dredge
August 2017