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First Speeding Conviction

Name: First Speeding Conviction
Start: 1896-01-28
Location: East Peckham

When: 28 January 1896
Where: East Peckham
Part of: Walter Arnold fined for speeding: the first speeding fine in England

Walter Arnold was fined one shilling plus costs for driving at 8 mph, exceeding the 2 mph town limit, in what is believed to be the first speeding conviction in the UK.

On 28 January 1896, Walter Arnold of East Peckham was summonsed for travelling at 8 mph in a motorised vehicle. This speed exceeded the then-current limit for towns of 2 mph. He was fined 1 shilling plus costs, establishing a precedent for speeding penalties in England.

Sources

Speed limit Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-19
East Peckham Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-16

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.