THE police have been accused of double standards after it emerged that almost 90,000 officers across England and Wales were let off speeding fines last year.

One in 200 police officers is fined and given points on his or her licence after triggering a speed camera or traffic light camera, compared with more than eight out of ten civilian drivers.

Last year, 90,000 police officers were caught speeding or jumping red lights, with 354 punished.

A quarter of the incidents involved police on emergency calls with blue lights flashing, but most of the others had tickets cancelled by senior officers.

The figures have been criticised by road safety charities.

Paul Smith, of Safespeed, said: "These figures add considerably to the public suspicion that it's one rule for them and another for the rest of us."

The North-East fares better than other regions.

Cleveland Police took the toughest line in the country with 20 tickets issued out of 48 incidents of police being caught on camera, but in Northumbria there were 312 speeding offences and only 15 tickets issued.

Durham and North Yorkshire were unable to provide comparable figures because they are the only forces in the country not to have fixed speed cameras.

However, Durham Police said it had caught three officers speeding with its mobile speed camera, all serving with other forces.

North Yorkshire said five of its officers were caught speeding last year, all in other force areas.

Superintendent Mick Hassen, of Northumbria Police, said all speeding offences involving police officers, or any other emergency services, were subject to review by the force's criminal justice department.

He said: "We take a very robust view within force and, if their driving is considered to have been below the necessary standard, then we can make recommendations which can include losing their authority to drive police vehicles or the need for additional training."

Sean Price, the chief constable of Cleveland Police, said: "There are many occasions, which I am sure the public will fully support, where police officers have exceeded the speed limit in their vehicles and not been prosecuted.

"The most obvious, of course, is when they are attending a life-threatening emergency, often displaying blue lights and sirens.

"Officers are trained to drive in this manner and I know the public will support them in their aim to get to somebody whose life is in danger in the fastest time possible.

"If, however, officers are found to have exceeded the speed limit without good reason they will be prosecuted."