FOI 848-2025 / Aug 2025 / Vehicle offences
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 848-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 13th August 2025 as follows:
I am requesting the following information held by your constabulary for the periods:
1 January to 31 December 2024
1 January to 31 July 2025 (or 31 August 2025, if available at the time of response)
Please provide a breakdown of the data for each council area or policing district within your constabulary’s jurisdiction, where applicable.
For each council area/district, please provide:
Q1. Speeding offences – The total number of speeding tickets or fines issued during each period, along with the month in each period that recorded the highest number of offences.
Q2. Drink driving offences – The total number of recorded drink driving offences during each period, along with the month in each period that recorded the highest number of offences.
Q3. Car theft incidents – The total number of reported car theft incidents during each period, along with the month in each period that recorded the highest number of incidents.
Q4. Causes of car accidents – The leading cause of car accidents during each period, along with the month in each period in which this leading cause resulted in the highest number of accidents.
Q5. Seatbelt-related fatalities – The total number of fatalities caused by not wearing a seatbelt during each period, along with the month in each period that recorded the highest number of such fatalities.
Q6. Dropped kerb offences – The total number of enforcement actions (tickets, fines or penalty charge notices) issued for vehicles obstructing or parking on a dropped kerb during each period, along with the month in each period that recorded the highest number of such offences.
If possible, please provide the data in a spreadsheet format (e.g. CSV or Excel), with separate columns for each council area/district and period to allow for easier analysis.
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that some of the requested information is not centrally recorded and is therefore not held in a readily retrievable format. With regards to Q6, there is no specifically worded offence for the obstruction of a dropped kerb. The business area has advised that traffic offence code RC86405 – Cause unnecessary obstruction by motor vehicle / trailer outside of the Greater London area, would apply in such circumstances; however, this code also captures other types of traffic offences. Therefore, in order to provide a response to this part of the request, it would be necessary to manually review all Traffic Offence Reports (TORs) relating to RC86405 on an individual basis. I can advise that for the period 1st January to 31st December 2024 there were 163 reports for this offence code, and between 1st January and 31st July 2025 there were 99. At a conservative estimate of 5 minutes per report to review, this would equate to 22 hours of work for this element alone. Therefore, this would exceed the amount to which we are legally required to respond, i.e., the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. For Police forces in the UK, the "appropriate limit" is up to 18 hours of work on one request.
In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of the request, and, if one part of a request exceeds the fees limit, then section 12 of the Act applies to the whole request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance on refining your request. I can advise that should you wish to remove this element of the request, it may be possible to conduct searches for the remaining questions within the fees limit. However, please be advised that in relation to a breakdown by each council area or policing district, this information is not recorded, therefore we would only be able to provide responses to these questions based on the whole force area.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB