A DOZEN drivers escaped prosecution for speeding offences on County Durham’s roads in the past year because they were based abroad.

The figure came from a survey by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) which said 23,295 foreign motorists faced no action over speeding offences in England and Wales – the equivalent of £2.3m worth of speeding tickets.

This was because as foreign vehicles they are not registered with the DVLA and therefore the offences are not pursued.

The IAM surveyed a number of police forces to gauge the extent of the problem, but in this region only Durham police issued a reply.

It said 12 foreign motorists were recorded speeding by cameras in the 12 months from August last year. However this figure paled into insignificance against those accumulated by some other forces – Thames Valley recorded 3,580 speeding offences, higher than anywhere else.

Cleveland and North Yorkshire did not respond to the Freedom of Information request, the IAM said, while Northumbria said no figures were available.

The IAM’s director of policy and research Neil Greig said: “It is important that the UK joins up with the rest of Europe to harmonise motoring offences and give the police extra powers to pursue dangerous drivers.

“Progress on this issue has been very slow and in the meantime thousands of drivers are avoiding fines and bans simply because their cars cannot be easily traced.”