Police earn big from speed awareness courses

2 minute read  |  November 29, 2017

The amount received by each constabulary for sending law breaking motorists on speed awareness courses has increase by more than 25% in the last couple of months as police forces are being accused of milking the system.

For every person an officer sends on a course the constabulary receives £45. The cash is designated by the treasury to cover the cost of catching speeding motorists, although chief constables are able to use the cash as they see fit.

With around 1.2 million speeding drivers attending awareness courses annually, police forces will now be in line to receive £54 million each year. This is in addition to the millions they also receive from other courses run under the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS).

At their discretion

Generally, courses are offered at the discretion of officers in place of penalty points and a fine. But could they be mistaken as a bribe?

Hugh Bladon, of the Alliance of British Drivers, certainly seems to think it could be taken that way.

Not to be outdone in the condemnation of speed awareness courses, Clair Armstrong, of the group Safe Speed, believes motorists are being bribed into the courses that aren’t improving road safety.

Absorbing costs

A spokesperson for NDORS said that course providers have tried to absorb as much of the fee increase as possible meaning that on their end, speed awareness courses went up by an average of less than £1 last month to £88.90.

A national Police Chiefs Council spokesperson said:

‘Forces do not profit from these courses and the financial model provides for cost recovery only.’

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