Lib Dem call for clampdown on cheating foreign drivers

by
2nd August 2016

Photo: Illegally parked foreign vehicle on Lord Street, Southport

Lib Dem call for clampdown on cheating foreign drivers

Liberal Democrats are complaining that thousands of foreign drivers who’ve been caught speeding in Britain have escaped fines totalling £7.2 million in the past 4 years because police have failed to track them down. The police have also been unable to catch dangerous drivers from abroad who have used their mobile phone at the wheels, driven without a licence and ran red lights.

Over 7,300 foreign drivers have avoided paying fixed penalties – which soared from £60 to £100 in August 2013.

These worrying figures mean dangerous drivers who could have faced court for flouting traffic laws have been free to carry on driving down British roads. Lib-Dem national leader Tim Farron MP said British taxpayers had lost out as a result of an ‘unacceptable’ failure to find convicts.

He said: “We should not be losing over £7million in speeding fines, we need to be doing much more to recoup that money.”

“This lackadaisical out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude to this problem is frankly unacceptable. ‘That cash could be used to fix our crumbling roads or used to help bring down the sky high cost of motoring.”

A Freedom of Information request to police forces across the country revealed that Thames Valley was one of the worst forces for catching drivers, with 9,234 speeding foreigners being let off. Greater Manchester Police had 92 drivers running lights but never tracked them down, and others who did not wear seat belts and failed to comply with traffic laws were never found.

 

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