POLICE in North Yorkshire benefitted from almost £1 million thanks to speeding motorists last year, newly released figures have shown.

The figures, released under an audit of the accounts of the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, show the force received more than a million pounds last year, including funds from the Highways Agency.

Although fines for drivers caught speeding by the force's mobile safety camera vans did not go directly to North Yorkshire Police, funding is made available to them from central Government.

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Police said: "Police forces do not receive any income from speeding penalties - this all goes to the Treasury.

"However, North Yorkshire Police does receive some income from Speed Awareness Courses, where these are taken by the driver as an alternative to points and a fine. In 2015/15, North Yorkshire Police received £957,000 from this source. Additionally NYP received £91,650 funding from the Highways Agency to support our costs in relation to policing the A1 upgrade."

Three mobile safety camera vans were introduced following a pilot scheme in June 2011, and the vehicles were painted with a bright livery to ensure they can be seen by motorists, and publishing their locations every week.

Despite that, 34,394 drivers were offered the speed awareness course after they were caught by the three mobile safety camera vans in 2014.

This year, a further three mobile safety camera vans have been introduced by the force, and 34,424 drivers had been offered the speed awareness course to the end of August.

Also released were the amount the force spent on setting up three new mobile safety camera vans and a support vehicle for them - a total of £125,238.

This saw £84,877 spent on buying and converting the vans, £8,600 on the support vehicle, £8,941 on camera kit, and £22,820 spent on offices and IT equipment for the new unit. On top of this, the force's Traffic Management Unit paid £31,879 to lease equipment for the safety camera vans.