UK car drivers have experienced a huge rise in the total sum of fines handed down to them since 2015.
Data collected by Wessex Fleet has found that Britain’s road users were slapped with around £25 million more in fines in 2020 than they were five years before, with different police forces handing out substantially more than others.
The cost of living crisis is taking UK families to the brink, as the expenses associated with everyday life continue to rise.
The data also shows that the average cost per fine has increased by £58, meaning that drivers are being hit harder for breaking the law.
Overall, the largest kind of fine was caused by dangerous driving, which carries with it a whopping £690 average punishment - up £317 from £373 in 2015.
On average, drivers who fail to supply information about the identity of a driver would expect fines of £636, while insurance offences saw people slapped with an average £426 penalty.
Speed limit offences grew relatively little, up by £26 to £214 since 2015.
Which police forces fine the most?
Different parts of the country vary in how much drivers are fined, with significant regional differences in how much people had to pay.
Drivers in Warwickshire paid the most, handing over £467 on average for being found guilty of a driving-related offence.
Northamptonshire drivers coughed up £428 per fine, while the West Midlands took third place with an average fine of £413.
Making up the final spots in the top 10 were:
- Wiltshire - £391
- Northumbria - £386
- Staffordshire - £380
- Derbyshire - £370
- Lincolnshire - £369
- Avon and Somerset - £368
- Leicestershire - £367
Which police forces fine drivers the least?
It’s not all doom and gloom for motorists everywhere, with some police forces handing down substantially smaller average fines than those at the top.
In Norfolk, drivers received an average fine almost half the size of those in Warwickshire, at £271. This means that people who commit driving offences in this area are more likely than people anywhere else to have a low price to pay.
Motorists in Dyfed-Powys were hit with an average fine of £276 and people in south Wales £280.
The remainder of this far more desirable list goes as follows:
- Sussex - £292
- Suffolk - £297
- Nottinghamshire - £308
- North Wales - £310
- Essex - £311
- Cheshire - £322
- West Mercia - £324
