The government hasn’t announced ‘one of the harshest crackdowns’ UK drivers have ever seen

Videos posted on social media claim that Sir Keir Starmer has announced “one of the harshest crackdowns” on driving offences that “UK drivers have ever seen”.

The videos claim that speeding offences could now see fines of up to £1,000, while drivers touching their phone “for even a second” will receive an instant £300 fine and six points on their licence.

A government spokesperson confirmed that claims Mr Starmer had announced a motoring crackdown this month, backed by new fines, were “untrue”.

Speeding fines can already be a maximum of £1,000 in certain circumstances—for instance, if you are found guilty in court of speeding on a non-motorway road, although it can be much less, around £100, if a person pleads guilty. The maximum fine for speeding on a motorway is £2,500 in cases where a person is found guilty in court.

The standard fine for using a mobile while driving a car is already £200, but if you are convicted in court it can be as high as £1,000.

Speeding fixed penalty notices are not always “instant”, as police forces have some discretion on what enforcement action to take, depending on the circumstances of the case.

Fake audio

The videos also include audio that sounds like the Prime Minister announcing this “crackdown”. However, there are clear clues that the audio in these clips is not genuine.

A reverse image search shows the footage of the Prime Minister at the beginning of the clip was actually from a speech given in May 2025 on the unrelated topic of the Diego Garcia military base. The speech did not cover driving offences, and there are no credible news reports of this topic arising at the press conference. We’ve not been able to determine whether the clip was generated with artificial intelligence, or simply features an impersonator, but we’ve not seen any evidence to suggest it is real. You can read more about how to spot AI audio, and the challenges of doing this, in our guide.

Another clue that the speech is not genuine is the implausibility of Mr Starmer criticising his own government policy as “turning roads into a money-making machine”, and the unnatural and even cadence of the audio.

AI-assisted speed cameras

The videos also claim the government is rolling out AI cameras nationwide to watch “every car, every move, every second you’re on the road” to spot motoring offences. While a government spokesperson confirmed the claim about a national rollout of AI cameras from 1 October is false—and there are no credible news reports of any such policy—it is worth noting that some police forces in the UK have used this technology.

According to a January 2025 Freedom of Information request, at least four forces had used AI-powered speed cameras.

In August 2025, Avon and Somerset Police announced a pilot of this technology on a collision hotspot, with offenders to receive a warning letter in the first instance, while a similar pilot was launched in Essex from April 2025.

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