Out of nearly 90,000 police officers caught speeding last year, just 158 were convicted, new figures have revealed.
The statistics, released to The Sun in response to a Freedom of Information request, reveal 88,536 incidents in which on-duty police officers were caught speeding by cameras in the 17 regions where such records are kept.
But prosecutions were only brought in a handful of cases, while in some regions no officers at all faced charges - despite officers triggering cameras thousands of times.
According to the disclosure, in 2008 no officers faced punishment in Wiltshire, Merseyside, Gloucestershire and North Wales, despite cameras catching nearly 5,000 police vehicles breaking the limit. Figures for the Metropolitan Police - the country's largest force - show that for 48,544 vehicles caught speeding, just 26 officers were prosecuted, while Greater Manchester Police issued 33 tickets for almost 16,000 cases of officers speeding.
Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, the drivers of police, fire and ambulance service vehicles may exceed the speed limit where not doing so would hinder their duties. However, drivers who exceed the limit or break any other traffic laws may have to justify doing so or face prosecution.
Despite the low proportion of prosecutions, the Police Federation said that offending officers would be "dealt with like anybody else".
