One in six speeding fines issued in England and Wales were cancelled during the 2020-21 financial year, according to analysis of the most recent official data.
A total of 2,426,950 speeding offences were recorded across the two countries in 2020-21, of which 404,335 (17 per cent) were later cancelled, research by the RAC foundation revealed.

UK speed cameras explained

By comparison, only 13 per cent (330,623) of the 2,584,571 speeding offences recorded in England and Wales in 2019-20 were cancelled.
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The data doesn’t show why each individual fine was dropped, but there are a host of possible reasons. These include faulty or incorrectly calibrated cameras, cars with cloned number plates committing the offence, emergency service cars lawfully breaking the speed limit on blue-light runs, delays in issuing notices of intended prosecution and a lack of resources for bringing cases to court. some of these problems could have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Of the speeding offences that weren’t cancelled, 40 per cent were resolved with the chauffeur being sent on a speed awareness course. another 31 per cent saw a fixed penalty notice issued and 10 per cent resulted in a court case.
Police forces in greater Manchester and Warwickshire had the highest proportion of cancelled speeding fines, tied on 39 per cent. only two per cent of speeding offences in Wiltshire were cancelled, but the county also detected the lowest number of speeders – just 912 – due to the fact it has no fixed speed cameras.