Foreign Drivers could get heavy Fixed Penalty Fines
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:38 pm
Foreign drivers will have to pay on-the-spot fines of up to £900 for flouting traffic laws under new legislation to be introduced next month.
If they do not have enough cash or a working credit card their vehicles will be clamped until they pay — and they will face an additional £80 release fee.
The law will also apply to British residents who cannot prove at the roadside that they have a valid address in Britain.
The fines will be described officially as “deposits” when introduced on April 1 because the money would be refunded if the driver went to court and was found not guilty. In practice, very few foreign drivers are likely to return to Britain to contest their cases.
On-the-spot points for careless driving
Average speed cameras approved for suburbia
Novice drivers face a ban for one speeding offence
Foreign drivers are rarely prosecuted because police cannot take action against them if they fail to respond to a summons. Instead, officers often merely give verbal warnings.
Three million foreign-registered vehicles enter Britain each year. Polish vehicles account for 36 per cent, French vehicles for 10 per cent and German vehicles for 9 per cent.
Foreign vehicles are 30 per cent likelier to be in a crash than a British-registered vehicle, according to research by London Councils. The number of crashes caused by foreign vehicles increased by 47 per cent between 2002 and 2007. There were almost 400 deaths and serious injuries and 3,000 slight injuries from accidents involving foreign vehicles in 2007.
The new law is partly intended to tackle the problem of foreign lorry drivers ignoring limits on weight and hours at the wheel and driving with faulty brakes. Foreign lorries are three times more likely per mile travelled to be in a collision than British lorries, according to an insurance industry study in 2007. Recent spot checks at Holyhead, in Anglesey, found that three quarters of lorries that failed safety tests were registered overseas.
Inspectors from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, which enforces lorry safety rules, will have the same powers as police to demand payment of deposits and to clamp the vehicles of non-payers. Drivers observed committing more than one offence will pay a maximum of £900 at the roadside.
The standard deposit for a careless driving offence — including driving too close to the vehicle in front or reading a map at the wheel — will be £300. Deposits for speeding offences and using hand-held mobile phones will be £60, in line with existing fixed penalties. Foreign drivers will not have penalty points added to their licences, however, in contrast to British drivers.
The AA said that the new law was long overdue because British drivers had been paying on-the-spot fines on the Continent for many years. Edmund King, the AA president, said: “We get many complaints from members, especially those using motorways to Channel ports, about reckless driving by foreign vehicles. They ignore the rules because they know that, even if caught, nothing will happen. There is no doubt that on-the-spot fines in France have made British drivers slow and take greater care. Our roads will be safer once foreign drivers realise they will face immediate consequences for bad driving.”
Richard Brunstrom, chief constable of North Wales and national police spokesman on traffic enforcement, welcomed the change. He said: “This will enable the police to enforce the law fairly and consistently, regardless of where drivers are from.”
A separate European Union enforcement plan is eventually expected to allow police to issue fines to foreign drivers caught by speed and red-light cameras.
LEFT-HANDED HAZARD
— 1,275 people were injured in crashes involving foreign lorries in 2007
— 20% of collisions involving foreign HGVs are “side swipes” as left-hand drive vehicles pull out to the right
— 22% of foreign lorries checked in 2006 had serious safety defects, compared with 8.9 per cent of British vehicles
— 1,233 foreign drivers were found to be evading the requirement to register their cars within six months of bringing them to Britain during a week-long DVLA campaign last autumn
— 19 minutes is the average length of a driving test in France. In Spain it is 20 minutes, in Britain 36
Sources: DfT; Vosa; DVLA; ABI
If they do not have enough cash or a working credit card their vehicles will be clamped until they pay — and they will face an additional £80 release fee.
The law will also apply to British residents who cannot prove at the roadside that they have a valid address in Britain.
The fines will be described officially as “deposits” when introduced on April 1 because the money would be refunded if the driver went to court and was found not guilty. In practice, very few foreign drivers are likely to return to Britain to contest their cases.
On-the-spot points for careless driving
Average speed cameras approved for suburbia
Novice drivers face a ban for one speeding offence
Foreign drivers are rarely prosecuted because police cannot take action against them if they fail to respond to a summons. Instead, officers often merely give verbal warnings.
Three million foreign-registered vehicles enter Britain each year. Polish vehicles account for 36 per cent, French vehicles for 10 per cent and German vehicles for 9 per cent.
Foreign vehicles are 30 per cent likelier to be in a crash than a British-registered vehicle, according to research by London Councils. The number of crashes caused by foreign vehicles increased by 47 per cent between 2002 and 2007. There were almost 400 deaths and serious injuries and 3,000 slight injuries from accidents involving foreign vehicles in 2007.
The new law is partly intended to tackle the problem of foreign lorry drivers ignoring limits on weight and hours at the wheel and driving with faulty brakes. Foreign lorries are three times more likely per mile travelled to be in a collision than British lorries, according to an insurance industry study in 2007. Recent spot checks at Holyhead, in Anglesey, found that three quarters of lorries that failed safety tests were registered overseas.
Inspectors from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, which enforces lorry safety rules, will have the same powers as police to demand payment of deposits and to clamp the vehicles of non-payers. Drivers observed committing more than one offence will pay a maximum of £900 at the roadside.
The standard deposit for a careless driving offence — including driving too close to the vehicle in front or reading a map at the wheel — will be £300. Deposits for speeding offences and using hand-held mobile phones will be £60, in line with existing fixed penalties. Foreign drivers will not have penalty points added to their licences, however, in contrast to British drivers.
The AA said that the new law was long overdue because British drivers had been paying on-the-spot fines on the Continent for many years. Edmund King, the AA president, said: “We get many complaints from members, especially those using motorways to Channel ports, about reckless driving by foreign vehicles. They ignore the rules because they know that, even if caught, nothing will happen. There is no doubt that on-the-spot fines in France have made British drivers slow and take greater care. Our roads will be safer once foreign drivers realise they will face immediate consequences for bad driving.”
Richard Brunstrom, chief constable of North Wales and national police spokesman on traffic enforcement, welcomed the change. He said: “This will enable the police to enforce the law fairly and consistently, regardless of where drivers are from.”
A separate European Union enforcement plan is eventually expected to allow police to issue fines to foreign drivers caught by speed and red-light cameras.
LEFT-HANDED HAZARD
— 1,275 people were injured in crashes involving foreign lorries in 2007
— 20% of collisions involving foreign HGVs are “side swipes” as left-hand drive vehicles pull out to the right
— 22% of foreign lorries checked in 2006 had serious safety defects, compared with 8.9 per cent of British vehicles
— 1,233 foreign drivers were found to be evading the requirement to register their cars within six months of bringing them to Britain during a week-long DVLA campaign last autumn
— 19 minutes is the average length of a driving test in France. In Spain it is 20 minutes, in Britain 36
Sources: DfT; Vosa; DVLA; ABI
