Police have been accused of conning motorists over speed awareness courses by failing to clarify that drivers could unwittingly invalidate their insurance by taking part.
Insurers have admitted that they treat speed awareness courses, often offered to drivers who have been caught speeding on the roads in lieu of a fine, the same way as penalty points.
As a result, drivers who fail to inform their insurers that they took part in the awareness courses could have their policies invalidated, according to campaigners.
The news follows an exposé from the Telegraph, which highlighted links between the national organisation for chief police officers and companies which profit from speed awareness courses.
Campaigners claim that motorists are lulled into a false sense of security by thinking that in avoiding fines and points, they don’t have to declare the course to their insurers.
However, insurance companies often operate “catch all” clauses in their policies, meaning that drivers have to keep them informed about any factor which could affect their driving.
Failing to declare such a course could therefore result in insurers cancelling the drivers’ cover in the event of an accident, experts have claimed.
Ian Belchamber, a campaigner who runs an anti-speed camera campaign in Dorset, said: “The police’s actions are potentially resulting in people driving uninsured because they haven’t told motorists to tell their insurers about the speed awareness course.
“If you are involved in an accident and the insurer looks into your history and sees you’ve been on a speeding course they could say ‘You didn’t tell us about this, you’re not covered’.”
Tim Ryan, deputy chairman of the British Insurance Brokers' Association, said: “Insurers rightly increase premiums for people attending speed-awareness courses.
“Drivers might avoid penalty points on their licence but car premiums could still leap significantly, which insurers are perfectly entitled to do.”
Mr Belchamber added that: “The police don’t want people to know this because they make a lot of money out of the courses.”
According to the Telegraph, two companies, who run speed awareness courses are tightly entwined with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), sharing board members with police chiefs.
The NPCC confirmed that Suzette Davenport, chief constable of Gloucestershire Police, sits on the board for the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS).
Likewise, Meredydd Hughes, former South Yorkshire chief constable, is a director at NDORS, which raised a £44m turnover for courses last year, and also for fellow company Road Safety Support.
However, an NPCC spokeswoman said that police forces make no money from the courses, and claimed: “The scheme’s financial model is designed to provide police forces with cost recovery only.”