Written question asked by Humfrey Malins (Conservative) on Tuesday, 8 January 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 January 2008. It was answered by Maria Eagle (Labour) on Tuesday, 15 January 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Driving Offences: Surrey

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many persons in Surrey were (a) convicted for speeding and (b) received a fixed penalty for speeding in each of the last five years for which figures are available;

Answer

Available information from 2001 to 2005 (latest available) is provided in the following table.2006 data will be available later this year.

Fixed penalty notices issued¹, findings of guilt at all courts for speeding² and driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs³ within Surrey police force area, 2001 to 2005
	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total found guilty at all courts for speed limit offences	3,478	2,021	1,508	4287	2,886
Total fixed penalty notices issued for speed limit offences	10,424	6,052	7,057	8,200	517,509
Total found guilty at all courts for drink-driving offences	1,592	1,614	1,464	1,425	1,503
¹ Only covers notices paid where there is no further action.
² Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and the Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regs 1973.
³ Data covers summary offences of driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs (which cannot reliably be distinguished separately).
4 The Court Proceedings database from which this figure is derived only hold 344 prosecutions in 2004 for this offence.
5 Safety Camera Partnership went live in the force area on 1 April 2005.
Notes:
1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular summary motoring offences, is less than complete.
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 systems generated by the courts. 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