One in 200 speeding police punished

From 90,480 offences captured on film, just 354 officers received fines or points on their licenses - compared to 80% of ordinary motorists, according to official figures.

One in four of the police motoring offences involved marked vehicles with blue lights flashing, indicating officers were responding to emergencies. But the rest were quashed by senior police who have the discretion to make tickets disappear if an officer puts forward a good reason for speeding - like chasing a suspect.

The data was obtained by the Daily Mail under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.

Edmund King, of the RAC Foundation, said even if more than a quarter of the cases were emergencies, the figures still seemed "excessive".

Perhaps the most shocking figures were those of Thames Valley Police. More than 4,000 of its police cars were captured on camera speeding or jumping red lights, but not one officer was issued with a fixed penalty ticket.

In Avon and Somerset last year 863 police cars were caught on camera and 54 officers ended up paying £60 fixed penalty fines, a total of 6.2%. In the City of London, 1,132 cases which were not automatically exempt were discontinued on the word of senior officers and no officers were issued with a fixed penalty fine. In Merseyside 1,887 cars were captured on camera, but no officer was fined.

The largest tally related to the Met Police with 48,222 police cars setting off cameras and just 57 officers receiving £60 fines and having three points put on their licence.

The total number of officers who have escaped a penalty is probably much higher, as figures were unavailable for 15 of the 43 police forces nationwide.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed campaign, told the Mail: "These figures will add considerably to the public suspicion that 'it's one rule for them and another for the rest of us'."