CAPTURED: Thousands of taxi drivers and motorists UNAWARE of recent speed limit threshold drop

New speeding rules are catching out thousands more motorists where reduced speed tolerance thresholds have changed.

Taxi drivers and other motorists now have less leeway when it comes to speeding and could face prosecution if they are caught over the limit by 10% plus 2mph. The previous tolerance limit set by the Metropolitan Police was 10% plus 3mph.

According to the MailOnline, the Met Police has not directly shared the rule changes to speed tolerance meaning thousands are falling foul. Historically the speed tolerance allowance provides a driver a small amount of leeway before a camera activates.

The Met did state that no matter the threshold, all drivers should stick to the speed limits and never exceed them.

The Sunday Times reported the rule changes could result in more than 347,000 drivers being prosecuted for speeding between January and June this year. That equates to a 259% increase when compared with data taken from the six months before the changes went live.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “Posted speed limits are the maximum speed that road users should travel at any time irrespective of the speed threshold that police commence enforcement action.”

The changes mean those travelling in a 20mph zone are handed a variable speed limit of 24mph (10% +2mph). At the higher end of the scale those travelling at 70mph are seen to have a variable speed limit of 79mph.

Steve McNamara, General Secretary of Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association (LTDA, said they had seen an 'absolutely massive increase' in taxi drivers receiving points on their licence since the changes came into force.