SWINDON drivers caught speeding will face tougher penalties from today.

Under new guidelines brought into force across England and Wales today, fines for drivers caught doing 51mph in a 30mph zone or 101mph on a motorway will start from 150 per cent of their weekly income.

Previously, if you were caught speeding the minimum fine was £100 and three penalty points on your licence. The maximum fine was £1,000, or £2,500 if you were caught on the motorway.

The maximum fines allowed by law remain the same, so speeding drivers cannot be fined more than £1,000 unless the offence takes place on a motorway, where the limit is £2,500.

The Sentencing Council say the move aims to ensure there is a clear increase in fine level as the seriousness of offending increases.

A total of 244 people were killed in crashes that occurred when a driver was breaking the speed limit on Britain’s roads in 2015.

This Is Wiltshire:

Wiltshire Police have already pledged to crackdown on speeding drivers on some of the town’s most notorious roads, including Drake’s Way and Thamesdown Drive.

In the last month alone, a police operation involving more than 80 motorists took place across the town as part of Wiltshire Police’s Operation Pegasus.

A total of 12 fixed penalty tickets were issued by officers and most were for excess speed, with one driver speeding at 47mph in a 30 zone.

Earlier this month, more than 100 drivers were stopped near Greenbridge by police during one evening of speed checks by a team of special constables.

A total of 26 specials took part in the operation where speed checks were carried out.

During the course of the evening they stopped a total of 116 vehicles including one driver who was travelling at 79mph in a 40mph speed zone who will now appear before magistrates to answer the charge.

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “Sadly, our officers regularly see at first-hand the devastating effects speeding can have on individuals, families and the communities when lives are lost as a result.

“These revised penalties coupled with on-going education initiatives which we run, such as talking to children and young people in schools and colleges, plus Speedwatch, which is more about educating speeding drivers rather than punishing them, as well as our regular preventative messages about speeding, through the media and social media - will hopefully address and reduce the number of speeding incidents in our county.”

Speed cameras across the town were switched off in 2009 by the now-dissolved Wiltshire And Swindon Road Safety Partnership.

Swindon Borough Council has said the decision made no difference to accidents in the town.