Sadiq Khan slammed over refusal to investigate ‘mistake’ as 66,000 motorists fined under unlawful speed limit

In October 2023, TfL officials used a traffic order to change the speed limit between Sidcup and Swanley from 70mph to 40mph.

The change took place on the A20 road after cars skidded off the road during a period of heavy rain.

A year later, after drainage work to make the A20 safer was completed, the speed limit was returned to its original 70mph.

However, around 62,000 drivers were caught out by the change in its first six weeks alone.

Many drivers accepted the £100 fine and three penalty points on their licences, but others lost their licences and jobs as a result.

Those who appealed their fines and went to court found TfL officials and Met Police staff testified under oath that the speed limit had been changed lawfully.

However, in October, a court acquitted one driver after it was presented with a document marked “TfL RESTRICTED”, which showed that the official who signed the order did not have the authority to do so.

This meant that the order to lower the speed limit on the A20 between October 2023 and October 2024 was invalid.

It is expected to now lead to legal action by thousands of wrongly fined motorists who want to clear their names.

Lawyers have said however that the ruling would not automatically pave the way for other convictions to be overturned, because Crown Court judgments do not create binding legal precedents.

In 2025, Lord Khan allegedly “refused” to investigate the matter after it was brought to his attention at the London Assembly.

As well as refusing to launch an investigation, Lord Khan ignored a demand to intervene from three MPs.

Reacting to the investigation, Thomas Turrell, the London Assembly Conservatives’ transport spokesman, said it was “an almighty motoring miscarriage of justice”.

He told The Telegraph: “Thousands of motorists have been sacrificed on the altar of the mayor’s inability to admit that a mistake has been made.”

The fines raised more than £6.6million for Transport for London and contributed to the Met Police’s target set by the Mayor to take action on a million speeding offences per year.

TfL has refused to clarify how many motorists were affected by the fine, but the number is believed to be more than 66,000.

In a statement, a spokesman for the Mayor of London said: “It is incorrect to suggest that the Mayor or TfL misled anybody in relation to these fines, and TfL remain confident that enforcement of the speed limit here was necessary given the safety risks.

“No wrongdoing was alleged by the court, traffic regulation orders were made lawfully, and all TfL staff acted in accordance with authorisation.”