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Plans to raise maximum speeding fine to £10,000

The maximum fine for speeding on motorways will be increased to £10,000, according to Government plans. Drivers caught using a mobile phone behind the wheel will face a £4,000 fine.

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Motorists using mobile while driving 'face £4,000 fine'

Drivers caught using a mobile phone behind the wheel will face a £4,000 fine under Government plans to toughen penalties for road offences.

Talking on a mobile while driving could end up costing drivers £4,000. Credit: PA

Ministers intend to give Magistrates greater powers to punish motorists who check their text messages or make calls while driving.

The rise in the fine limit is part of a wider package designed to punish drivers caught speeding on dual carriageways, and do not pay due attention on the road.

However, insurance and motoring companies have accused the Government of producing "draconian" legislation which will put drivers off contesting unfair fines.

Read: Motorists viewed as a 'soft touch' group claims

Motorists viewed as 'a soft touch' group claims

The head of a motoring activist group has condemned plans to raise motorway speeding fines to £10,000 and claimed it showed that the government viewed motorists as "a soft touch."

£10,000 for speeding is grossly disproportionate. There is an unwritten threat with fixed penalty fine that no matter how strong the case of the motorist maybe, it could stop them from going to court because they fear a massive fine.

"The other strange thing about this is that they seem be proposing a maximum fine on the roads that are safest. Surely a maximum fine should be for going fast on residential and high risk roads.

– Rupert Lipton, National Motorists Action Group

Read More: Plan to raise motorway speeding fines to £10,000

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RAC question £10,000 motorway speed fine proposal

The Royal Automobile Club Foundation have questioned government proposals to raise the maximum motorway speeding fine to £10,000.

Cars drive underneath motorway speed cameras Credit: Ian Nicholson/PA Wire

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "This seems such a wholesale change to the system so you have to ask what was going so badly wrong before?

"Ironically we know that speeding offences have declined over recent years and just last week the Department for Transport confirmed that even after taking congestion out of the equation recorded traffic speeds have been dropping for a decade on most types of roads.”

Magistrates to be allowed unlimited fines

The Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said new rules would allow magistrates to impose unlimited fines for the first time, as he also announced that the maximum motorway speeding fine could rise to £10,000.

The proposed changes will also allow judges to impose unlimited fines for the first time where there is currently a maximum of £5,000.

Magistrates are the cornerstone of our justice system and these changes will provide them with greater powers to deal with the day-to-day offences that impact their local communities.

– Justice Minister Jeremy Wright

Read: Plan to raise motorway speeding fines to £10,000

Plan to raise motorway speeding fines to £10,000

A car in central London passes a speed camera. Credit: Michael Stephens, Press Association

The maximum motorway speeding penalty will rise to £10,000 under government plans to increase fine levels in magistrates' courts by 400%.

The proposed changes will also allow judges to impose unlimited fines for the first time where there is currently a maximum of £5,000.

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