Tens of thousands of pounds lost as police fail to track foreign vehicles

Data uncovered by South Lakes MP Tim Farron reveals that tens of thousands of pounds are lost due to Cumbria Police's failure to track foreign vehicles.

The data shows that a growing number of drivers in Cumbria are evading motoring fines because their foreign-registered vehicles cannot be traced. In 2015, 329 drivers avoided paying the Fixed Penalty Notice of £100, up from 299 the year before.

Tim said: "In many rural areas of Cumbria, speeding is a real problem. Local road safety campaigners will be devastated to find out that foreign vehicle owners are getting around the law. A foreign vehicle must not mean a licence to speed.

"Our area relies on visitors, as tourists bring in millions of pounds to the local economy and support jobs and businesses. However, visitors should face the law in exactly the same way as local people do. It is utterly wrong that foreign vehicle owners are getting away without paying fines.

"The police need to be doing much more to recoup that money, which could be used to fix our crumbling roads. This lackadaisical out of sight out of mind attitude to the whole problem is frankly unacceptable. The police's inability to track these vehicles not only loses us money, it also means there is a very serious loophole which criminals can use to evade the law."