London motorists were fined at least £20 million last year for breaking 20mph speed limits, The Telegraph can reveal.
It comes as the London Mayor expands the number of 20mph zones across the capital.
The minimum penalty for a driver caught speeding is £100 and three points on their licence, meaning at least £20m will have been levied in fines last year, up from at least £687,000 in 2016 when Sadiq Khan took office.
The 20mph expansion is part of the Labour Mayor’s Vision Zero plan, which aims to end death and serious injury on London’s roads by 2041.
More than 50pc of London roads now have a 20mph speed limit, up from 25pc in 2016.
Greg Smith MP, who sits on the Commons’ transport committee, called the figures “another kick in the teeth” for drivers.
He said: “The Mayor’s anti-car agenda continues apace… Most people will find it absurd that drivers are being fined at such low speeds.”
The Mayor of London’s transport authority, Transport for London (TfL), is responsible for London’s strategic “red routes” which carry 30pc of the capital’s traffic despite making up just 5pc (336 miles) of London’s total road network.
In September, TfL announced it was lowering the speed limit to 20mph on a further 40 miles of roads in the capital over the remainder of the year.
The rollout is the biggest expansion of 20mph zones to date and covers arterial roads in seven central and southern boroughs – Greenwich, Kensington and Chelsea, Lewisham, Southwark, Wandsworth, Merton, Bromley and Lambeth.
It is part of a planned reduction of speed limits from 30mph to 20mph on an extra 87 miles of London’s roads by May 2024.
It comes after speed limits on all 18 miles of TfL-run roads in Camden, Islington, Hackney, Haringey and Tower Hamlets were reduced in March.
Keith Prince, the Conservatives’ transport spokesman at the London Assembly, called the speeding fine data – obtained by a Freedom of Information request – “shocking”.
He said: “A 20mph speed limit should only be imposed where there is a clear need to improve safety on a particular stretch of road.
“Sadiq Khan and some London boroughs have forced through 20mph limits on roads that don’t need it against the wishes of residents.”
TfL has previously said it was working with the Metropolitan Police to increase its capacity for catching speeding drivers, with the target of taking action against one million by 2024.
It comes as Mr Khan is under pressure to reduce more serious offences on London’s streets. Knife-point robberies in the capital have risen by more than a third (36pc) in the past year, with all knife-enabled crimes up 21pc, according to ONS figures.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/bills/cars/sadiq-khan-20mph-london-costs-drivers-20m-year/
