Cross-border driving fines set for return after EU-UK ‘reset’

Since Brexit, British motorists have avoided fines for minor road traffic offences in Europe because the paperwork could not be delivered to UK addresses. But that rare ‘Brexit Benefit’ looks set to disappear sooner rather than later.

The reverse has also been true, with European drivers who commit minor road offences in the UK effectively out of reach of British authorities since January 2021.

Since the UK formally left the European Union, police forces in Europe have had no access to the British Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s vehicle registration database, and vice versa.

That has meant that authorities in Europe have been unable to track and trace UK motorists who commit driving offences while on European roads, so fines that are usually delivered by post – such as for speeding or mobile phone offences – could not be sent out.

But, as well as the headline fishing rights, passport lanes and youth mobility proposals, the new EU-UK reset deal includes fast-tracking an agreement on the exchange of vehicle registration details between European states and the UK.

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The agreement pledged “quicker and better implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and to reinforce their cooperation. This means, for example, finalising work setting up the exchange of vehicle registration data under the Agreement.”

Prior to Britain’s departure from the EU, the Cross Border Enforcement directive, introduced in 2015, allowed authorities in EU countries to pursue drivers for motoring offences, as long as their car was registered in an EU country.