London council will become first in the UK to issue £130 fines for exceeding 20mph limit
26 October 2022, 14:07 | Updated: 26 October 2022, 14:24
A London council is set to become the first local authority in the country to give fines to drivers who breach 20mph limits.
Wandsworth has won permission to run a pilot scheme, starting next week. If successful, the trial - which will last for up to eight weeks - could be implemented across London.
Speeding offences are normally enforced by the Met Police, though it tends to focus on trunk roads and higher speeds, which means in many residential areas 20mph limits go unenforced.
Motorists that are caught council speed cameras will be slapped with a £130 fine but won't get the three points added to their licence that normally results from a police caution.
Labour-run Wandsworth has targeted two roads hit by complaints from residents about motorists driving above the speed limit: Wimbledon Park Road and Priory Lane in Roehampton.
The plan gained the approved of London Councils, which represents the 33 boroughs.
Wimbledon Park Road is a busy street and with Southfields Tube station on it, and leads to the Wimbledon tennis grounds, while Priory Lane is regularly used by cyclists moving between Putney, Roehampton and Richmond Park.
Recent traffic studies revealed that one in four vehicles exceeded the speeding curbs on Priory Lane and one in five in Wimbledon Park Road.
Wandsworth’s Labour leader Simon Hogg said: “Speeding traffic is one of the biggest sources of complaints we receive. Ensuring drivers stick to the 20mph limit not only improves pedestrian safety levels and encourages more people to walk or cycle, it helps reduce harmful emissions too. ,
“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.”
Almost half of the capital's roads have a 20mph limit, and the majority of London's boroughs see it as the “default” legal maximum speed.
Last week Transport for London announced over 17 miles of roads in Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Haringey would have 20mph speed limits by March 2023.
Motorists spotted by the Wandsworth cameras will initially receive a warning letter with fines – reduced to £65 if paid within two weeks - imposed several weeks after the pilot starts.
Wandsworth will use an experimental traffic order to run the scheme.
Money accrued from police speeding tickets normally goes to the Treasury, but in this case the money raised can be reinvested back into the area's road safety initiatives.
The council said this would help it to do its bit in London mayor Sadiq Khan’s “vision zero” target of having no deaths or serious injuries on the roads by 2041.
Councils are already empowered to use cameras to issue drivers with fines for “moving traffic” offences, like making banned turns, breaching low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) and “school street” restrictions, driving in bus lanes, and stopping in yellow box junctions.
