New government data, as collated by Moneybarn, reveals interesting information about speeding fines. It includes where in the UK you’re most likely to be caught, plus where the highest percentage get cancelled.
Our shocking headline figure belongs to the City of London, where over 62 percent of fixed penalty notice speeding fines were cancelled last year.
CoL is leagues ahead of second-placed Cambridgeshire here. Just over 30 percent of fines issued there were cancelled last year. Greater Manchester, London Metropolitan and Bedfordshire follow behind, with respective cancellation rates of 26, 24 and 23 percent.
Why would a speeding fine be cancelled?
There are four main reasons why a fine may be cancelled. Incorrect details about the offence, the accused wasn’t driving, missing or incorrect road signage denoting the presence of a camera, and faulty measuring equipment.
Is there a high rate of sign vandalism in the City of London? Possibly. Are speeders taking to other people’s cars and going AWOL? Also a possible. Realistically, there’s no way of knowing.
Where are the UK’s speeding ticket hotspots?
Avon and Somerset leads the way when it comes to speeding fines, with 199,337 issued last year. That’s the equivalent of 548 every day. You can chalk that up to around 800 active cameras spread across the counties.
In second place is West Yorkshire, with 174,796 FPNs issued last year. London Metropolitan and Thames Valley follow with 135,430 and 131,401 FPNs.
Curiously, City of London (local to London Metropolitan) is among those with the least FPNs issued, at just 3,888. Gwent in Wales has the lowest number of FPNs for speeding over the last year, with 242. Apparently, only eight of its 17 speed cameras are active at any one time.