Drivers face crackdown on unpaid European speeding fines after EU-UK reset deal
Government speeds up plans to share UK driver data following summit with Europe’s top mandarins
Drivers returning to the UK from Europe and leaving behind unpaid traffic penalties, face a new crackdown as the UK government seeks to fast-track plans to share vehicle registration details held by the DVLA with the European authorities.
The first UK-EU summit since Brexit in 2020 took place in London on 19 May, as prime minister Sir Keir Starmer hosted the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission in what has been described as an effort to ‘reset’ the relationship following angsty Brexit negotiations in 2020.
A wide-ranging agenda that focused on fishing rights, passport controls and youth mobility, also included a clause on speeding up a deal for the exchange of vehicle registration details between European states and the UK. Since Brexit, there’s been no official mechanism for Europe’s police forces to follow-up traffic offences committed by Brits driving their cars abroad, because they haven’t been able to forward speeding fines or penalty notices without access to the DVLA’s database of names and addresses.
However, what some drivers may have seen as a Brexit dividend looks set to be rescinded in short order. According to the EC’s post-summit briefing, one point of agreement with the United Kingdom was a pledge to seek “quicker and better implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and to reinforce their cooperation. This means, for example, finalising work setting up the exchange of vehicle registration data under the Agreement.”
Since 1 January 2021, UK drivers can no longer receive fines via the post for minor traffic offences committed in the EU countries, according to the Road Traffic Offences and Licensing FAQs document published by Parliament. However, UK drivers can still receive on-the-spot fines in person in EU Member States.
Before the UK left the EU, the cross-border Directive for road safety-related traffic offences provided for Member States to be able to request access to data relating to vehicles and their registered keepers. The EU Directive 2015/413 applied to road safety offences such as speeding and mobile phone offences.
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