News: Driver fined £39,000 for being 14mph over limit
Means-tested fines make speeding expensive for the wealthy
A DRIVER has been fined €54,000 (£39,000) for breaking an 80kph (50mph) speed limit by 23kph. Reima Kuisla, a racehorse owner and trainer, lives in Finland, where fines imposed are proportional to income; he earned €6.5m last year. He says he is now considering emigrating.
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Finland is not the only country where fines can reach astronomical figures. Switzerland has a reputation for doling out hefty penalties, based on a motorist’s wealth. In 2010 a Ferrari Testarossa driver was fined £180,000 by a Swiss court for speeding at 85mph. Later that year a Mercedes SLS AMG driver faced a fine of £656,000 after being caught at 180mph (105mph over the limit).
The worst speeding offenders in Britain are sent to a magistrates’ court; the maximum fine is £2,500. In January Steve Harley from the band Cockney Rebel, revealed that he had been fined £1,000 for speeding on a motorway and described the system as “wicked and vindictive”.
