Record attendance and revenue
Police forces, councils and private firms collected more than £170 million from speed awareness course fees last year, as a record 1.85 million motorists attended the courses to avoid penalty points on their licences.
The figure represents a 12 per cent increase on 2024 and a 70 per cent rise over five years, according to the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme. Campaigners warn that motorists are being treated as cash cows as lower speed limits ensnare growing numbers of drivers.
The scheme, which has operated since 1991 following recommendations in the 1988 Road Traffic Law Review, is now managed by UK Road Offender Education (UKROEd), the not-for-profit trading arm of the Road Safety Trust. All 43 police forces in England and Wales participate in the scheme.
The postcode lottery on course costs
Drivers face significant variations in how much they pay to attend speed awareness courses depending on where they were caught. An investigation has revealed that course fees range from £82 in Cleveland, where Hartlepool Borough Council runs the programme, to £100 in Devon and Cornwall, West Mercia, Humberside and West Midlands.
This means motorists could save almost 20 per cent by choosing the cheapest available course over the most expensive. However, drivers are typically only informed of the price once they have selected a course and chosen their attendance time, giving them no opportunity to compare costs with other providers.
Those wishing to find the cheapest option face the laborious task of contacting each provider individually to enquire about fees. The courses are delivered by a mixture of local authorities and private firms, including Trusted Trading and Compliance, which runs 14 of the 44 courses offered across England and Wales, and AA-owned Drivetech, which operates eight.
How the revenue is divided
The fee structure shows that course providers retain 42 per cent of the charge paid by motorists, police forces take 52 per cent, and UKROEd receives 6 per cent for managing the scheme. This means if a driver pays £100 for a course, the provider receives £42, the police force gets £52, and UKROEd takes £6.
Chief Superintendent Marc Clothier, head of operations at the National Roads Policing Coordination Centre, stated that the £50 police element is set nationally to ensure forces recover the costs of administering the courses. He emphasised that education is offered as an alternative to prosecution to encourage driver behaviour changes and prevent reoffending.
An UKROEd spokesman explained that fees are set by the referring police force as part of their contract with course providers, and the structure covers the cost of delivering courses, police force administration, and national system maintenance.
The impact of 20mph zones
A key factor driving the surge in course attendance has been the controversial rollout of 20mph speed limits. The number of drivers caught by speed cameras in 20mph zones has soared from 21,125 three years ago to 127,915 last year, a 505 per cent increase.
Wales became the first UK nation to introduce a default 20mph speed limit on restricted roads in September 2023, changing 30,000 road signs at a cost of £32 million. The policy proved highly controversial, with a petition to repeal the limit attracting 469,571 signatures, making it one of the largest petitions in Welsh political history. Scotland has also committed to implementing 20mph as the default speed limit in built-up areas by 2025.
Official statistics from Senedd Research show that following Wales' 20mph rollout, collisions on 20mph and 30mph roads in Wales fell by 22.5 per cent from 2023 Q2 to 2024 Q4, compared to a 4.7 per cent decrease in England during the same period.
Broader data shows that in 2024, motorists across England and Wales outside London were caught committing a record 2.9 million motoring offences, with 2.5 million involving speeding, representing a 9 per cent increase from 2023. Department for Transport figures show 314 people died in crashes on Britain's roads in 2023 where a driver exceeding the speed limit was a contributory factor.
Campaigners' concerns
Motoring campaigner Brian Staples, who runs the 2,000-strong Griffins Head Classic Car Club, described speed awareness courses as a cash cow. He was caught driving at 33mph in a 30mph zone in a 1960 Austin A40.
He said the course was deadly dull and nothing but a sermon, questioning where all the money goes and why providers are allowed to charge different rates rather than a single uniform charge.
Motor expert Shahzad Sheikh, who runs YouTube channel Brown Car Guy, said the system is a revenue generator, adding that motorists struggle to stick to 20mph as it is not a speed they were naturally taught to maintain. He argued that driving is increasingly about anxiously looking out for speed traps rather than focusing on being a good driver.
How the system works
Most drivers caught speeding receive a Notice of Intended Prosecution within 14 days of the offence, followed by a second letter offering three options: attend a speed awareness course, accept a £100 Fixed Penalty Notice with three penalty points, or respond to a court summons for more serious offences.
Drivers can opt for a course if caught between 10 per cent plus 2mph and 10 per cent plus 9mph above the limit. This means courses are available for speeds up to 31mph in a 20mph zone, 42mph in a 30mph zone, and 86mph in a 70mph zone. Drivers can only attend each course once every three years, with NDORS maintaining a national register to enforce this rule.
The three-hour courses can be attended in person or online via video call. Online participants must remain engaged throughout, taking notes and showing them to instructors on request. Switching off cameras or sound for five minutes can result in failure and the requirement to retake the course.
MPs were told by road safety experts earlier this month to increase efforts to make 20mph the default speed limit on all roads in urban areas in England. Should lower speed limits be rolled out further, the cash collected from speed awareness courses is likely to escalate significantly.
Nicholas Lyes, director of policy at IAM RoadSmart, said the courses offer drivers the opportunity of education, which needs to be paid for through fees instead of simply a fine and points. He noted that forces have operational flexibility in how they run courses, explaining the price differences, but attendees can still expect consistency in quality.
