Lockdown speeders: Driver clocked at 151mph during lockdown

A total of twenty police forces in the UK caught speeding drivers in excess of 100mph during the coronavirus lockdown, according to data analysed by the RAC as part of a freedom of information (FOI) request - with the worst offender clocked at 151mph on the M62.

During the first three weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown a driver was caught doing 81mph over the speed limit on the M62 motorway in West Yorkshire. This was 11mph faster than the next fastest recorded driver - which was 140mph on the A14 in Suffolk.

Five forces – Northamptonshire, Gwent, Staffordshire, Kent and Humberside –  caught motorists driving at speeds in excess of 130mph on the motorway. Three others – Police Scotland, The Met and Lancashire – recorded drivers at speeds over 120mph.

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A particularly dangerous incident was a driver captured doing 108mph in a 40mph limit on the M1. The only other force whose highest speed was in a 40mph limit was Bedfordshire – here the driver was clocked at 104mph on Airport Way in Luton.

The news follows a report of an accident - reported by Hants Road Policing - which required the use of five fire appliances, three ambulances and four police cars to attend the scene. The vehicle crashed into a tree on an unlit country road after three people, all from different households, went for a drive 30 miles from home. 

In the first three weeks of the coronavirus lockdown - 23 March to 13 April - produced 17,363 speeding offences in 30mph limits.

National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, Chief Constable Anthony Bangham, said: "Our NHS colleagues are already under extreme pressure – it is important, more than ever, that drivers do not add to this."

Check out the FOI results for your area below: