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Welsh among most likely to admit to speeding if they didn't
publication date: Oct 13, 2011
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author/source: Robin Roberts
Up to 300,000 drivers may have persuaded others to
take their penalty points for speeding.
| Drivers who look for someone else to take the blame
and the penalty points for a speeding offence face a one in eight chance that
they will be reported to the police, new AA research reveals.
Manual and
service workers show significantly more scruple in not perverting the course of
justice than professionals.
An AA/Populus poll of 16,961 AA members found that
12% of them would not only refuse to say they were driving at the time of the
offence but report the point-swapping attempt to the police.
Among professional and senior manager groups, that
drops to 11% but rises to 16% among skilled manual and service workers. Among the unskilled, unemployed and those on
state pensions, 20% would inform the authorities. There
are also strong regional differences.
Overall, only 1% across all socio-economic groups
would agree to take the blame and the points for a driving offence. Another 82% would refuse point blank but keep
quiet about it.
The survey found that 2% of AA members have had
someone seriously suggest they take another driver's points, although 13% say
someone they know reasonably well has been involved in points swapping, either
as the offending driver or the one taking the blame.
The size of the points-swapping problem is best
indicated by the 1%, mainly male, who have persuaded another driver to take the
blame and the points for a motoring offence. That is equivalent to around
300,000 drivers among the 31 million UK driving licence holders. Just under
half (49%) of AA members claim not to have received a notice of intended
prosecution in the last ten years.
| AA Penalty Points Fact File: | - New
drivers are disqualified if they get 6 penalty points within 2 years of
passing their test.
- Other
drivers are usually disqualified with 12 penalty points.
- It
is more difficult to pass off penalty points if caught on a forward facing
camera where the driver can be indentified.
- A
nurse was jailed for 6 months after trying to blame her former
sister-in-law who lives in the USA for speeding after a DVLA
investigation.
- In
2003 an army Captain who said that his car had been exported was convicted
after a trial and was given a 3 month prison sentence.
- In
2005 a 60 year old from Bradford was jailed for 4 months after claiming a
French friend was responsible for an offence committed by his daughter. Police found that the Frenchman had been
at home with a kidney infection at the time of the offence.
- It
is rumoured that students in some metropolitan areas have been "buying"
penalty points for £150.
- Christine
and Neil Hamilton avoided a speeding fine in 2003 by claiming that they
didn't know who was driving. Similar cases involved Manchester United
Football Club and Hampshire police.
| Regional differences show that nearly one in six
drivers in Northern Ireland would report a request to take someone else's
points, compared to around one in 10 in the North East, London and Wales.
Commenting, Edmund King, AA President, said: "Our AA/Populus poll suggests that the equivalent of 300,000 drivers have admitted
that they have persuaded other drivers to take their penalty points.
The poll also indicates that one in eight
drivers might report someone to the police if they were asked to take their
points.
The AA suspects
these drivers may be "passing off" penalty points to avoid getting banned or to
avoid getting higher insurance premiums.
"Some drivers don't seem to realise the serious
nature of this offence. Often drivers
will be charged with perverting the course of justice which typically results
in a 4 - 9 month prison sentence or a large fine. The
best advice is to stick to speed limits to avoid detection in the first place."
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Regional findings: If you were asked to
take the points for another driver's motoring offence, would you refuse and
report the matter to the police?
London 11%, South 13%, South West 14%,
Wales 11%, East Midlands 12%, East Anglia 12%, Yorks/Humberside 13%, North West
12%, North East 10%, West Midlands 12%, Scotland 14%, Northern Ireland 16%.
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