Police decision to not enforce 20mph zones branded ridiculous by concerned parents
PLUS: How will Lancashire be affected by the government's welfare reforms?
Hello and welcome to The Lancashire Lead.
Today, our investigations reveal that Lancashire Constabulary has not issued a single fine against drivers failing to adhere to 20mph speed limits.
That was despite well over 1,000 people being caught speeding inside a calendar year.
The limits are themselves controversial but many of the zones are placed outside areas like primary schools on busy roads - and that has parents concerned.
We also look at how the cuts to PIP will affect people in Lancashire, where there are great health and financial inequalities from place to place.
‘Children outside schools and nurseries are not safe’, says campaigner in response to Lancashire Lead revelations
By Michael Holmes
Not a single motorist has been fined by Lancashire Police for speeding in a 20mph zone in the past year - despite more than 1,400 being caught, it can today be revealed.
Some 1,433 drivers were sent “warning letters” after being clocked driving too quickly “at many sites across the county”, figures released under freedom of information laws show.
But no fixed penalties were handed out in the 12 months to February 2025, police said.
Officers do not “usually” enforce the speed limit in 20mph zones, the force admitted, because they are “deemed self-enforcing” with “suitable speed calming measures such as speed bumps”.
It said: “If the police receive repeated reports of speeding at these locations, we refer these to the local authority to look at.”
The force did not respond when asked by The Lancashire Lead if the 1,400-plus warnings in the past year suggest the 20mph zones are not self-enforcing after all.
Katie Barton, who has been campaigning for road safety measures in Brownedge Lane, Bamber Bridge, which is in a 20mph zone, said the figures are “alarming”.
Describing Lancashire Police’s decision not to typically enforce 20mph zones across the county as “ridiculous”, Barton, who lives in Brownedge Lane, added: “I have also been informed by a good source of a recent speed check that has seen careless drivers speeding over the 20mph limit, into the 30s, although I have assured them that at different times of the day there are drivers speeding at 40-60mph, causing danger to life.
“20mph should and must be monitored. Cars seem to believe Brownedge Lane is a bypass.
“The children of the school and nursery are not safe, nor is the lollipop person, and I am fighting for change for the safety of the public.”
Every year, hundreds of people die on British roads in crashes where speeding is considered a contributory factor, with at least a 10-year high of 314 deaths recorded in 2023.
In January, a study from the RAC revealed there has been a surge in drivers breaking speed limits, with 50% admitting to speeding on 20mph roads “frequently” or “occasionally”.
That number is higher than for 30mph roads (42%) and 60mph roads (47%) but lower than for motorways (58%).
RAC road safety spokesperson Rod Dennis said: “It’s concerning that our research indicates excessive speeding has become so commonplace, because the consequences are very severe - a fact borne out by government data showing it contributes to 21% of all fatal collisions.
“It is particularly worrying that so much excessive speeding observed by drivers appears to take place on 20mph and 30mph roads as this is where the greatest number of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooter riders are.
“We badly need to bring an end to excessive speeding to keep us all safe.”
In 2023, Lancashire Police had to come out and say officers were “continuing to accept 20mph speed limit reports” after the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership, of which the force is a part, announced a “pause” after getting an “unprecedented number”.
Local councillor Paul Wharton-Hardman said the U-turn was a “victory for common sense”, adding: “Instead of addressing our genuine worries and making our roads safer, it feels like (the partnership) adopted the classic ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil’ approach.”
Last January, Lancashire County Council said it would only introduce 20mph zones on roads where they are needed and where people want them.
The zones have been rolled out by County Hall since 2011 in “main residential areas and outside schools” but “not on major through-routes, so traffic can keep moving efficiently”.
Conservative councillor Ash Sutcliffe said last year: “I’m personally not in favour of blanket 20mph zones, and we’ve said it’s always about where they are appropriate.”
Labour councillor John Fillis, however, said: “If a driver can’t stay within the speed limit, then I say it’s the driver who is the problem, not 20mph roads.”
And Labour’s Steve Holgate added: “Driving 20mph through a town (or) a busy village or … near a school is not that difficult - just put it in second gear. Basic driving skills. 20mph is the way in which we reduce deaths on the road.”
Barton, the road safety campaigner in Bamber Bridge, said she wants speed-calming measures installed in Brownedge Lane, “whether this be a speed camera outside the school or speed bumps” or a “zebra crossing by the church”.
She said a neighbour recently had their front wall damaged “through careless driving”, while a car and e-bike crashed last month.
“I also witnessed two young schoolchildren cross the lane in front of an oncoming van who had to slam on,” she said. “I have witnessed a driver - hands-free off the wheel texting - lose control of her car, driving into the school wall.”
Barton added: “I have been working recently with our local police and can see their views are just as important, however the LCC must take action to enable the police to do their job correctly. And LCC must take this campaign seriously before another person is killed.”
The unitary council in Blackpool last year proposed creating a 20mph zone in the town centre to get more people walking and cycling.
Its 10-year strategy, developed with the county council, could see Blackpool zones “supported by traffic-calming measures, as needed, to make the speed limit self-enforcing”.
The road safety charity Brake told The Lancashire Lead it does not comment on “specific initiatives by police forces”.
But it said: “Everywhere that has introduced 20mph speed limits as a default has seen a significant reduction in crashes, deaths and serious injuries.”
But there have been accidents.
A Mercedes driver was jailed for 10 years in August after hitting psychologist Vanessa Sagnay de la Bastida at 55mph in a 20mph zone in west London.
Octavian Cadar, 39, smashed into Ms Sagnay, who was known as Charlotte, as she crossed the road with her fiance Michael Williams.
Cadar, of Bexley in south west London, initially accused his victim of “messing about in the road” before later coming clean.
The accident would not have happened if he had not been speeding, the court was told.
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