NORTH Wales Police nets more than £1m a year from speeding awareness courses on its patch.

Drivers caught driving slightly above the limit can opt to go on an £85 four-hour course instead of receiving a £100 fine and three penalty points on their licence.

The police say they earn no money from speeding fines - and all the money from fines goes to the Treasury.

But most forces keep about £35 of the fee – between £79.50 and £92.50 in total – depending on area and course provider, or it goes to road safety partnerships they run with councils.

Police bosses say the money is to cover the costs of catching speeding motorists and processing offences.

Drivers can choose to take a course instead of receiving points on their licences, which can contribute to an eventual ban for repeated offences and/or highter car insurance premiums.

A Leader Freedom of Information request has revealed that, in a 12-month period between 2015 and 2016, 34,335 motorists caught speeding were offered the alternative to go on a course – and of those 29,036 (84.6 per cent) took up the offer.

Mobile camera vans dish out far more tickets than fixed cameras.

The numbers caught between 2012 and 2015 rose considerably.

In 2012, 21,111 speeders were caught by mobile vans and 7,586 by fixed cameras - a total of 28,697.

By 2015, the total figure had risen to 47,709 – 41,217 from mobile units and 6,492 from fixed cameras.

The Wrexham area has a high number of offfenders.

It has the top two positions for speeding tickets in the North Wales top 10 hotspots  – and five of the top 10 places.

Number one in the list, with 2,848 tickets, is the Junction 7 A483 dual carriageway at Rossett.

Second with 1,603 is the A5 at Halton, with the A547 at Meliden third with 1,282.

The A541 at Plas Teg, Ponblyddyn, generated 1,252 tickets to land fourth place and the A525 at Coedpoeth/ Minera caught 1,227 to be in fifth position.

The remaining five in the top 10: 6, A548 Prestatyn Road, Prestatyn with 1,179; 7, A548 Greenfield with 1,133; 8, A525 Heol Maelor, Coedpoeth, with 1,021; 9, A55 Colwyn Bay junction 21 westbound with 989; 10, A541 Mold Road, Wrexham with 867.