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Written question asked by Paul Rowen (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 21 March 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 26 March 2007. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Monday, 16 April 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

Driving Offences

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers were found guilty of driving (a) without insurance and (b) without a valid driving licence in each police force area in each of the last five years; and what the average penalty imposed in each police force was for such an offence in each year.
Answer

[holding answer 26 March 2007]: Available information taken from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, from 2000 to 2004 (latest available) is provided in the tables.2005 data will be available later this year.

Table A: Total findings of guilt and average penalty imposed at all courts for the offence of using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks¹ by police force area. England and Wales, 2000 to 2004
Number of offences
2000 2001 2002
Findings of guilt Average fine (£) Findings of guilt Average fine (£) Findings of guilt Average fine (£)
Avon and Somerset 9,578 182 8,455 130 9,766 133
Bedfordshire 2,323 226 2,916 164 3,184 169
Cambridgeshire 2,226 182 1,989 119 2,298 118
Cheshire 4,110 211 3,927 149 4,600 153
Cleveland 3,597 179 3,643 167 4,325 173
Cumbria 2,699 265 2,906 152 2,888 151
Derbyshire 3,945 296 4,261 337 4,736 355
Devon and Cornwall 5,890 179 5,742 133 6,380 132
Dorset 3,548 261 2,986 121 3,388 114
Durham 4,338 160 4,361 118 4,632 122
Essex 5,356 123 5,417 101 5,401 104
Gloucestershire 2,548 240 2,692 91 2,297 86
Greater Manchester 24,020 232 26,600 152 27,805 151
Hampshire 7,578 136 7,677 119 8,135 122
Hertfordshire 3,332 204 3,691 155 4,214 166
Humberside 4,065 137 3,657 122 3,576 132
Kent 6,431 271 7,063 209 7,722 192
Lancashire 11,054 219 9,812 111 11,107 113
Leicestershire 6,752 254 6,849 134 7,435 135
Lincolnshire 3,321 188 2,970 133 3,070 134
London, City of 777 375 1,021 369 1,333 368
Merseyside 7,813 207 7,794 163 8,688 167
Metropolitan Police 20,247 169 22,677 139 27,307 140
Norfolk 2,851 210 3,040 99 3,610 107
Northamptonshire 2,998 280 1,643 280 913 339
Northumbria 9,430 144 9,251 130 9,364 135
North Yorkshire 2,572 211 2,216 130 2,124 136
Nottinghamshire 6,082 150 6,261 152 6,005 156
South Yorkshire 8,956 170 10,163 128 10,101 137
Staffordshire 6,760 198 4,723 152 5,764 163
Suffolk 2,330 183 2,387 128 2,862 138
Surrey 2,577 218 2,826 201 3,158 215
Sussex 3,808 167 4,016 118 3,730 117
Thames Valley 7,456 250 7,128 134 8,334 135
Warwickshire 2,316 188 2,672 156 2,395 168
West Mercia 5,542 263 5,766 176 5,858 180
West Midlands 18,010 201 18,221 169 22,202 192
West Yorkshire 15,649 209 15,934 120 14,043 123
Wiltshire 2,625 204 3,281 283 3,170 286
Dyfed-Powys 2,076 169 1,914 155 2,293 166
Gwent 3,808 208 3,836 148 3,676 154
North Wales 2,848 230 2,565 144 3,003 150
South Wales 10,335 188 9,809 159 11,607 173
England and Wales 264,577 203 266,758 150 288,499 155
2003² 2004
Findings of guilt Average fine(£) Findings of guilt Average fine(£)
Avon and Somerset 10,633 138 10,925 154
Bedfordshire 3,524 137 3,220 143
Cambridgeshire 2,728 131 2,678 152
Cheshire 5,414 167 5,412 179
Cleveland 4,017 171 5,124 189
Cumbria 2,868 159 2,762 169
Derbyshire 4,956 367 5,557 367
Devon and Cornwall 6,635 127 6,217 134
Dorset 4,276 125 3,634 158
Durham 4,535 121 4,065 116
Essex 5,487 112 5,368 164
Gloucestershire 2,599 133 2,451 147
Greater Manchester 29,826 157 26,939 167
Hampshire 8,148 124 7,509 131
Hertfordshire 5,099 181 5,401 198
Humberside 4,460 137 4,348 150
Kent 7,485 191 8,377 197
Lancashire 13,770 141 10,011 156
Leicestershire 8,114 138 7,822 150
Lincolnshire 4,298 148 4,781 179
London, City of 1,606 334 1,125 230
Merseyside 10,756 148 10,555 137
Metropolitan Police 31,702 143 36,707 147
Norfolk 4,485 139 3,750 152
Northamptonshire 3,261 245 4,671 183
Northumbria 9,904 135 9,159 137
North Yorkshire 2,369 141 2,537 166
Nottinghamshire 7,730 152 7,833 188
South Yorkshire 9,965 146 8,571 125
Staffordshire 6,128 166 6,370 186
Suffolk 3,594 133 3,548 136
Surrey 2,900 221 2,604 197
Sussex 3,694 138 3,102 162
Thames Valley 9,759 158 9,208 198
Warwickshire 2,905 164 3,438 210
West Mercia 6,051 165 5,540 193
West Midlands 25,557 200 27,734 206
West Yorkshire 17,101 134 20,308 144
Wiltshire 3,022 280 2,794 200
Dyfed-Powys 2,243 172 1,650 187
Gwent 3,465 171 2,980 157
North Wales 4,542 149 4,797 154
South Wales 11,756 158 11,232 154
England and Wales 323,367 160 322,814 169
¹ An offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 143(2).
² As from 1 June 2003, ‘driving a motor vehicle while uninsured against third party risks’ became a fixed penalty offence.
Note:
1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. Work is underway to ensure that the magistrates courts' case management system currently being implemented by the Department for Constitutional Affairs reports all motoring offences to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. This will enable more complete figures to be disseminated.
2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
130046; 459 c446-9W
Session
2006-07
Subjects
Road traffic offences
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk