M1 speed camera that catches out most drivers revealed as record fines handed out

Speed cameras^[1] on the M1 caught a record 140,000 motorists last year, netting £14million in fines.

More than 300 drivers are recorded speeding on the motorway^[2] every day. The majority of those caught opt for a speed awareness course costing around £100, or cop a £100 fine^[3] and penalty points. Police figures for the last three years show nearly 340,000 drivers were nabbed.

The top speed recorded was 169mph – but the driver avoided being penalised as the number plate was unclear. A camera between junction 39 and 40, near Wakefield, West Yorks, has snared the most motorists in the last three years, at 30,000.

But almost as many were caught at Woodall Services in South Yorks, between junctions 33 and 34 near Sheffield and by Watford Gap Services, Northants. The figures were provided by the eight police forces who control the cameras on the M1.

Some 115,000 speeding drivers were caught in 2022, compared to 84,000 in 2021, when Covid affected numbers. Two BMW drivers who were clocked at 158mph and 153mph were among those prosecuted. And former Tory immigration minister and Newark MP Robert Jenrick also landed a £1,100 fine for going through 40mph roadworks at 68mph.

Hugh Bladon, of the Alliance of British Drivers, said: “With variable limits on motorways, it can be a bit of a lottery. Sometimes, for quite sensible reasons, the limit is reduced but they seem reluctant to return it to the proper speed limit when the event has passed. It can be that drivers concentrate on the messages broadcast from gantries rather than keep alert.”

References

1. ^{^} Speed cameras (www.mirror.co.uk)
2. ^{^} motorway (www.mirror.co.uk)
3. ^{^} £100 fine (www.mirror.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Shoppers swap jeans for £23 'perfect' New Look summer trousers (www.mirror.co.uk)