Drivers can be caught speeding more than once in a three year period and still avoid having points added to their licence due to incomplete sharing of speed awareness course (SAC) attendance data, according to a new report.

An increasing number of drivers in the UK are choosing to attend a speed awareness course instead of a fixed penalty notice, conviction or endorsement.

The National Speed Awareness Scheme (NSAC) is currently offered in most of England and Wales with the exception of the police authorities in Hampshire, Dorset and the City of London, which deliver their own courses independently of the national scheme, according to the report by Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) members.

Drivers can choose to attend a speed awareness course only once every three years and if they are caught speeding again during this time they will have to accept a speeding conviction.

For this reason their details are recorded on the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) database maintained by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

However, course attendance data for the three police authorities outside of the national scheme is not entered into the NDORS database and there is no data-sharing between the local authorities running independent courses and the database.

It is therefore possible for a driver to attend a speed awareness course and avoid a conviction more than once every three years if they are caught by a police authority not part of the national scheme.

David Williams, chairman of the CII underwriting faculty board, said: “The CII’s New Generation underwriting group set about investigating the impact that speed awareness courses have on insurance but in the process discovered this startling fact.

“Due to incomplete sharing of speed awareness course attendance data it is possible for an individual to be caught speeding more than once within a three year period and slip through the net without having points added to their licence.

“Are police forces in the City of London, Hampshire and Dorset in danger of undermining efforts to improve road safety, by not sharing data and offering speed awareness courses not in the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme?”