Police forces, councils, and private firms are raking in more than £170 million from speed awareness course fees, according to the report. The rise in revenue comes as a record 1.85 million motorists took a National Speed Awareness Course last year, up 12 per cent from 2024 and 70 per cent over the past five years. Campaigners argue that motorists are being treated like cash cows as lower speed limits ensnare growing numbers of drivers, forcing them to fork out for expensive courses or face fines and points on their licence.
Drivers face a postcode lottery when it comes to how much they are charged to attend these courses. Money Mail has found that motorists could save almost 20 per cent on the cost by opting for the cheapest course over the most expensive. However, drivers are usually only told the price of their course once they have chosen it and picked a time to attend, meaning they have no opportunity to compare prices with other options beforehand. Those who want to find the cheapest course face the laborious task of asking each provider in turn what they charge.
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Most caught speeding will be none the wiser until a Notice of Intended Prosecution letter drops on the doormat. It must arrive within 14 days of the offence for the prosecution to be valid. The letter includes details of the offence—the speed you were caught travelling at and the speed limit on the road—along with the time and place you were snapped by a camera. Also included is a Section 172 form you send back within 28 days confirming who the driver was.
Once you have returned the form, you then receive a second letter with three options for you to choose from. You can take a speed awareness course, accept a Fixed Penalty Notice of £100 and three points on your driving licence, or respond to a court summons if you are caught at an exceptionally high speed or want to dispute a ticket. Ignore these options or the initial letter and you face getting six licence points and risk a £1,000 fine.
If you opt for the speed awareness course, you need to go on to the website provided in the letter received and input the 16-digit reference code and six-digit pin number and/or your car registration plate number. Further details—including bookings—can be found at gov.uk and typing National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme into the search box. You are given a list of a couple of dozen providers offering courses, with details of their location and the option to take the course in person or online. If you opt to attend in person, it would make sense to go for the course nearest to home for convenience. However, if you’re doing the course remotely—attending via a video call on your laptop or phone—you may as well pick the one that is cheapest. After all, the courses cover the same material and should not vary in quality. But it is only once you have picked a provider and given the date when you wish to take the course (it must be within 120 days of the offence) that the prices are provided. They vary between £82 and £100, as our table shows.
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The courses are managed by an arm of charity Road Safety Trust called UK Road Offender Education (UKROEd), which pockets 6 per cent for every sign-up. That’s about £9 million a year. The police force takes 52 per cent of the fee paid by the motorist, while 42 per cent goes to the company or local authority running the lesson, meaning they pocket £42 if the course costs you £100. An UKROEd spokesman says the fee for speed awareness courses is set by the referring police force as part of their contract with a course provider. Chief Superintendent Marc Clothier, head of operations at the National Roads Policing Coordination Centre, adds that the policing element forces receive is set nationally at £50 to ensure they recover the costs of administrating these courses.
Who runs the courses and where are they cheapest?
Course providers include Trusted Trading and Compliance (TTC), which runs 14 of the 44 courses offered in England and Wales, and AA-owned Drivetech, which runs eight. Most of the others are run by local authorities. The cheapest courses are in Cleveland, where Hartlepool Borough Council charges £82. The most expensive are in Devon and Cornwall, and West Mercia, all run by TTC; Humberside, run by Safer Roads Humber; and West Midlands, run by Safer Roads for West Midlands, charging £100. The Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency and Driving & Vehicle Licensing Agency are not involved in the awareness courses, while the Department for Transport only deals with speeding penalties. It is the Home Office, which owns the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme, that takes responsibility.
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Motoring campaigner Brian Staples, who runs the 2,000-strong Griffins Head Classic Car Club, says speed awareness courses are a cash cow—pure and simple. He took one and felt robbed. The focus is on telling you off rather than improving awareness of speed. He was caught doing 33mph in a 30mph zone in a 1960 Austin A40 car. He adds that he does not begrudge handing over almost £100 if it really makes motorists safer behind the wheel—but the course was deadly dull and nothing but a sermon, with gems such as start your journey early to get there on time. Motor expert Shahzad Sheikh, who runs the YouTube channel Brown Car Guy, says of the cost: ‘This is a revenue generator—no question. It is easy to view motorists as a cash cow. Motorists struggle to stick to 20mph as it is not naturally a speed they were taught to stick to and the Government knows this. Driving is increasingly about anxiously looking out for speed traps rather than focusing on being a good driver.’
Nicholas Lyes, director of policy at IAM RoadSmart (previously the Institute of Advanced Motorists), says these courses offer drivers the opportunity of education, which needs to be paid for through fees instead of simply a fine and points on the licence. Forces will have operational flexibility in how they choose to run these courses, which explains the difference in prices. But those attending can still expect consistency in the quality of the scheme.
