Speeding HMRC

The taxman has submitted a request to be on a revised list of emergency services allowed to break the legal speed limit.

HMRC says it wants the government to grant it the special powers for when it is engaged in the covert surveillance of organised crime.

The department made its approach to the Department for Transport which has issued a three month consultation on allowing speed limit exemptions to be extended to services beyond the three core emergency services of police, fire and ambulance services.

These include bomb disposal units, vehicles carrying organs for transplant, mountain rescue and coastguard vehicles.

The consultation will also look at amending road safety legislation so that emergency drivers would be required by law to complete high-speed training before exceeding the limit. But this will not place any additional burden on police, fire and ambulance services which already run an effective voluntary training scheme.

While emergency service drivers are not exempt from the offences of dangerous and careless driving, the current legislation allows drivers in some circumstances to break speed limits legally, as well as exempting them from certain traffic regulations.

Road safety minister Stephen Hammond, said:

‘Police, fire and ambulance service drivers are highly trained individuals who are at times required to exceed the speed limit in order to save lives. It is only right that we look at allowing other services whose duties can mean the difference between life and death to exceed the speed limit when responding to emergencies. ’

‘It is also time to look at the legal requirements of emergency vehicle training so we can build on the rigorous standards the police, fire and ambulance services have already applied through their code of practice.’

While emergency service drivers are not exempt from the offences of dangerous and careless driving, the current legislation allows drivers in some circumstances to break speed limits legally as well as exempting them from certain traffic regulations.