Victim of extortion racket: Driver fined for speeding in London

📆 6/10/2026 6:24 PM

Crime News

Speed Camera, Speed Awareness Course, Extortion Racket

📆6/10/2026 6:24 PM

📰DailyMail

⏱63 sec. here / 299 min. at publisher

📊News: 1065% · Publisher: 68%

The text describes the author's experience of being fined for speeding in London and being accused of doing 36mph in a 30mph limit. The author discusses the 'notice of intended prosecution' letter received from Avon and Somerset Police and the subsequent 'speed awareness course' offered to avoid penalties.

My own fault, of course. On a deserted road at 1am, driving home from the railway station after a day in London , I got clocked by a speed camera .

The ‘notice of intended prosecution’ or Section 172 letter from Avon and Somerset Police arrived two weeks later. I stood accused of doing 36mph in a 30mph limit. I could pay a £100 fine and have three points on my clean driving licence or avoid both penalties by signing up for an online ‘speed awareness course’. The next letter directed me to a ‘UK road offender education’ website where I could book the course and pay my fee.

Cost: coincidentally or not, £100. It was blatantly obvious what was happening. I was the victim of an extortion racket run by my local police force. And unlike the spam emails, bogus social media messages and automated phone calls that bombard us every day, this was official.

If I tried to sidestep the scam, I risked prosecution and a heftier fine, because the racketeers had law on their side. They were the law. Avon and Somerset were shaking me down for a ton, simply because they could. Courses like these were first tried by Lancashire Police in 2003 and proved such a moneyspinner that within three years they were rolled out nationwide.

Christopher Stevens was clocked doing 36mph in a 30mph zone and given the option to do a speed awareness course to avoid a fine and points on his licenc

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