Roads policing in London accused of 'postcode lottery' for prosecuting drivers

Police officers monitor traffic
PA Archive/PA Images
Justin Davenport4 April 2019

Roads policing in London was criticised as a “postcode lottery” today as a report highlighted huge variations in people being caught for speeding, careless driving and using mobile phones across the capital.

RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims, called on the Met to be more accountable for dealing with traffic offences, saying it has no coherent strategy for roads enforcement.

Its survey listed significant variations between boroughs after analysing police data for traffic offences in 2017.

Speeding counted for more than half of all traffic offences in London although there were major variations across boroughs.

In Ealing police recorded the most drivers caught breaking the 30mph limit — 8,535 — compared with 83 in Kensington and Chelsea. Hackney recorded 90 per cent of sanctions for motorists breaking 20mph limits.

Regarding careless driving, there were 20 times more sanctions in Westminster, with 202, than Richmond with 10.

Police also detected the largest number of cycle offences in Southwark, 833, while officers in the three boroughs of Bexley, Kingston and Richmond only detected one cycle offence in each in 2017.

More than 1,000 people were caught using a phone while driving in both Westminster and Ealing but fewer than 300 were stopped in six boroughs including Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

Motorists caught driving with a mobile overall fell by 40 per cent in 2016-2017.

RoadPeace says some variations are explained by traffic volumes and the number of speed cameras but others could be due to how officers are deployed.

Spokeswoman Victoria Lebrec, who lost a leg after being run over by a skip lorry in 2014, said: “Traffic law enforcement should not be a postcode lottery. Victims should not be more at risk based on where they live.”

Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove, head of the Met’s roads policing, said there would always be geographic variations in policing enforcement because officers were targeting areas with a greater risk of collisions and drivers who pose a greater risk to other road users.

He added: “There is still much to do to address the causes of collisions including dangerous road behaviour.”

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