Company car offences on the rise with bus lane abuse seeing greatest rise

Company car driver offences are on the rise, with bus lane abuses increasing the most.

Offences by those using a company car took place at the rate of one every 50 seconds of the working week during 2012, a survey by vehicle management solution company Lex Autolease found.

The company's data was taken from studies of a fleet of 270,000 vehicles and showed that the number of offences has risen 9.5% in 2012 to 121,154 incidents.

Bus lane offences have shot up 30.3% between 2011 and 2012, speeding offences are up 11.5% and parking violations have risen nearly 13%.

Fines paid by company car driver offenders have risen 9.3% to more than £7 million this year.

Lex Autolease fleet operations head Ian Thomson said: "In general, company car and van drivers are under significant pressure to complete each journey as quickly and efficiently as possible and hit tight deadlines.

"Unfortunately, this pressure can also have a negative impact on their driving behaviour."

He went on: "It is worrying to see an increase in the total number of motoring offences and in particular a rise in speeding-related infringements.

"Fleet managers have placed a great emphasis on health and safety during the last few years. Under their duty of care obligations they must continue to educate their drivers about the need to drive safely and the consequences of poor motoring behaviour."

PA