How Brexit could help you avoid speeding fines on the continent
Britain’s departure from the EU cancelled agreement on motoring offences
Hundreds of thousands of speeding fines handed out to British drivers in Europe every year could become a relic of the past after Brexit saw UK motorists exempted from agreements governing motoring offences on the continent.
Britain’s departure from the EU means the bloc’s cross-border enforcement directive no longer applies to UK drivers.
Under that agreement, signed by the UK in 2017, foreign police forces could request information about drivers caught breaking driving rules. However, the end of the transition period saw Britain leave the enforcement directive, meaning an “end to of sharing information about drivers who are caught on speed cameras”, the Daily Express reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In practice, says The Times, this means that owners of British-registered vehicles “will no longer be sent fines” after they have left the country in which the offence took place. It also means that “British police will not be able to dispatch fines to European motorists caught by speed cameras or committing other offences in the UK”, the paper adds.
More than 444,000 British motorists were fined for offences filmed by roadside cameras in France alone last year, ahead of Belgian drivers with 295,899, Spaniards with 262,012 and Germans on 249,291. France stands to lose up to €60m (£53.4m) in unpaid British motoring fines a year, according to Caradisiac, a specialist French motoring site.
The French government is keen to negotiate a new bilateral agreement with Britain that will allow fines to be sent from one country to the other. But The Times says that French officials “fear that Britain will drag its heels” over a future arrangement.
If Britons are thinking about speeding while holidaying abroad, they should be aware they can still be issued with on-the-spot penalties. In France, drivers “travelling at 50km/h or more above the speed limit they can also have their vehicle seized”, The Telegraph adds.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
'Cure for Trump amnesia might be his NY trial'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Tesla cuts prices in 'intensifying' EV war
Speed Read Electric vehicle giant has struggled in the face of weakening demand, competition from China and technical setbacks
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay: unwind at this picture-perfect resort
The Week Recommends The retreat that's ideal for recharging your batteries while experiencing life on an Indonesian island
By Yasemen Kaner-White Published
-
Myanmar: the Spring Revolution and the downfall of the generals
Talking Point An armed protest movement has swept across the country since the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was overthrown in 2021
By The Week Staff Published
-
Israel hits Iran with retaliatory airstrike
Speed Read The attack comes after Iran's drone and missile barrage last weekend
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Is there a peaceful way forward for Israel and Iran?
Today's Big Question Tehran has initially sought to downplay the latest Israeli missile strike on its territory
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Sudan on brink of collapse after a year of war
Speed Read 18 million people face famine as the country continues its bloody downward spiral
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How powerful is Iran?
Today's big question Islamic republic is facing domestic dissent and 'economic peril' but has a vast military, dangerous allies and a nuclear threat
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US, Israel brace for Iran retaliatory strikes
Speed Read An Iranian attack on Israel is believed to be imminent
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How green onions could swing South Korea's election
The Explainer Country's president has fallen foul of the oldest trick in the campaign book, not knowing the price of groceries
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Ukraine's battle to save Kharkiv from Putin's drones
The Explainer Country's second-largest city has been under almost daily attacks since February amid claims Russia wants to make it uninhabitable
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published