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Ministers’ chauffeurs in speeding ticket row

Ministers’ chauffeurs in speeding ticket row

SNP ministers’ chauffeurs have clocked up a string of speeding convictions – and have even been caught breaking the limit on the country’s most notorious road.

Opposition MSPs and safety campaigners said last night it was “very embarrassing” for Alex Salmond’s government that official drivers had flouted the law on the A9, A82 and A90.

The offence on the A9 between Inverness and Perth – often described as the most dangerous road in Scotland – was committed just weeks before controversial plans to instal average-speed cameras were revealed by Transport Minister Keith Brown.

The government has refused to say which members of First Minister Mr Salmond’s Cabinet were in the cars when the chauffeurs were caught speeding.

However, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, and Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead, who is MSP for Moray, are both regular users of the A9.

Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, who has more than 20,000 signatures on a petition calling for dualling work on the road to be fast-tracked, said yesterday: “Before lecturing to the rest of the population about the need to calm speeds, perhaps Scottish ministers need to start closer to home and address the behaviour of their own drivers.”

Road safety campaigner Dave Stewart, a Highland Labour MSP, said the revelation was “very embarrassing” for the government.

He said ministers had courted controversy by pressing ahead with plans to instal 100 average-speed cameras at 40 locations along a 136-mile stretch of the A9 between Dunblane and Inverness.

Mr Stewart added: “This is a case of the proverb physician heal thyself.

“The government is lecturing to everyone else but they are not looking to their own behaviour as far as speed limits are concerned.

“People are concerned about the average-speed camera plans so this is very embarrassing for the government.”

Official figures revealed ministerial drivers were given on-the-spot fines on two occasions and were also caught out on the A9 on June 5, on the A82 in August last year, on the A90 in November 2011 and in Edinburgh in June 2011.

The number of speeding convictions – which carry a £100 fine and at least three penalty points – racked up by drivers since the SNP took office in 2007 could be far higher because no records were held prior to 2011.

Neil Greig, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said he was “disappointed” that government drivers had been caught speeding so many times in such as short space of time.

“This sets a pretty poor example because the government’s drivers should be the paradigm of well-trained drivers,” he said.

“These are professional drivers carrying around very important people and maybe they need some training to change their attitude to speed limits.”

North East Conservative MSP Nanette Milne said the offences would concern law-abiding citizens and claimed the SNP was increasingly becoming the government of “do as a say, not do as I do”.

“SNP ministers clearly enjoy life in the fast lane,” she said. “However, it is time they came back down to earth, and, like the rest of us, kept to the speed limit.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Each driver receives advanced training from both Police Scotland and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

“During the three-year period covered here, government car service drivers undertook more than 27,000 journeys – indicating that such incidences are very rare. These speeding fines were dealt with on an individual basis, depending on the circumstances, including discussion between the driver and their line manager. No drivers have been banned.”

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