Now COUNCILS will start issuing £130 speeding fines to anyone driving faster than 20mph

A London council will start issuing £130 speeding fines to anyone driving faster than 20mph as motorists fear they will be fleeced by local authorities.

Wandsworth Council is launching a pilot scheme next week where it can fine drivers exceeding the 20mph limit in residential areas — roads which often see fewer fixed cameras and mobile patrols from the Metropolitan Police. 

The new power, lasting for up to eight months, will see the council pocketing the £130 fine instead of it going into a central government pot.

If deemed a success, it could be rolled out across London, where around half of streets have a 20mph limit.  

Drivers will not be given three points on their licence, or have to attend a speed awareness course, under the scheme.

Wandsworth will start issuing £130 speeding fines for breaking the 20mph limit. File image

The AA has said that speeding should not be dealt with ‘like a parking ticket’.

‘Speeding enforcement should not become “fishing trips” to secure money for councils,’ a spokesman told the Evening Standard. 

‘Drivers will be rightly concerned that speeding fines will be more about filling council coffers than keeping roads safe,’ Joe Ventre, from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, also told the newspaper.

He added that the cost of running the pilot should not place additional burden on taxpayers.

The Labour-run council is targeting two residential roads where residents complain about speeding drivers: Priory Lane in Roehampton, and Wimbledon Park Road.

The former is popular among cyclists travelling between Roehampton and Richmond Park, while the latter leads to the famed tennis grounds. 

Studies in both areas found that one in four drivers break the speed limit along Priory Lane, and one in five do so along Wimbledon Park Road.

Wandsworth Council leader Simon Hogg said that speeding is one of the biggest concerns for residents.

If the pilot is deemed a success, it could be rolled out across London, where around half of streets have a 20mph limit. File image 

‘If judged a success, we will look to make it permanent and carry out enforcement in other parts of the borough where we know vehicle speeds are excessive,’ he told the Evening Standard.

All roads within London’s congestion charge zone have a limit of 20mph, with it seen as the ‘default’ maximum in most of the 33 boroughs. 

By March next year, a further 17 miles of roads in Camden, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Tower Hamlets will have the same speed limit, Transport for London announced.

Wandsworth will drop the fine from £130 to £65 if it is paid within a fortnight, with warning letters being issued in the first few weeks, as drivers become aware of the changes.

Greg Wilson, founder of Quotezone, a car insurance comparison site, said that drivers may have more success challenging a speeding ticket issued by a council because police forces have road monitoring tools and experience that councils may lack. 

Permission to give out the fines was granted by London Councils, a cross-party group representing the city’s boroughs.

Wandsworth Council said that the money from fines will be used on road safety in the borough. 

Councils already have permission to fine drivers for stopping in yellow box junctions, driving in bus lanes, making banned turns and driving in low-traffic neighbourhoods and other restricted areas.

The Department for Transport was contacted for comment.