Concern at number of cop car offences

Police officers are being caught speeding or running red lights almost nine times a month.

The offences have all been notched up by staff employed by Police Scotland.

Since April 2013 when the new force came into being 1,343 notices of intended prosecution were slapped on force drivers. Of those, 1,154 were deemed null and void due to the “emergency services exemption” which allows 999 crews to speed to incidents. Another 15 were cancelled after it was found they had been issued in error.

But 174 almost nine a month were deemed valid.

A spokesman for the Institute of Advanced Motorists described the figures as worrying.

He said: “In general the police are highly trained and deal with driving in emergency or other situations involving high speeds very well and the vast majority of people support them in this. However, every police officer has to realise he or she is seen as an ambassador for road safety and must behave accordingly.

“The IAM is confident that Police Scotland have robust internal procedures in place to deal with any officer who breaks the speed limit in a non-emergency situation. Reducing the number of contraventions should be a key performance target for senior police managers.”

Police Scotland has been accused of targeting drivers since its inception.

During the first year of the new force, there was a 14% increase in the number of all motoring convictions, almost 5,000 more than the year before. Meanwhile the number caught speeding increased by 17%.

Last month it also emerged a police officer was clocked driving at 136mph while on a training exercise.

The officer, from the Serious Crime Division, was seen speeding at nearly twice the 70mph limit while at the wheel of a marked Scottish Police College training vehicle on the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen road.

It was 16mph faster than the highest speed recorded by police personnel on an emergency call in all of 2013-14.

The force defended the incident and insisted it was an essential part of training and the driver was let off after being granted “emergency service exemption”.

However, Sandy Allan, road safety manager for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents Scotland, insisted the emergency services should only drive at high speed “when essential”.

He said: “The police need to respond to emergencies that involve threats to public safety as quickly as possible, which often means exceeding speed limits on a blue light run.

“But this type of driving also creates a significant extra risk to police officers in the car and to other road users.

“The public safety risk to which the police are responding, and the risk created by the emergency drive, must be balanced.”

Motorists found guilty of speeding face a minimum fine of £100 and three penalty points on their licence.

Those caught running a red light are hit with at least three penalty points and a £60 fine.