Met fined over £300,000 for traffic offences

Budget documents have shown that the Metropolitan Police has been fined £325,563 for traffic offences in this financial year.

This is up from £245,377 last year – an increase of 32.7 per cent.

Fines accrued were mostly for illegal parking, speeding, use of bus lanes and red route offences. Vehicles found to have been on duty at the time of the offence were exempt from paying the fines.

A spokeswoman from the London Metropolitan Police confirmed that the traffic offence fines had risen considerably from the previous year.

“The fines have increased due to factors like the increase in fleet size. In particular, the number of unmarked hire and lease vehicles which would not be recognisable to the council when on covert operations,” she said.

She added that the force is working with local authorities to reduce the level of FPNs that may have been received by officers whilst on operational duties.