Headlight offences

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/26/004946/T

Version Date: 18/08/2026

The Road Safety Team has provided the following information:

Please could you provide the following information for the last six calendar years (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024) broken down by year:
1.         The total number of Traffic Offence Reports (TORs) and Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued for the following specific CJS offence code:
o          RL89171: Use a motor vehicle on a road where the aim of the headlamp beam was used to cause undue dazzle / discomfort.

2. If your electronic recording system allows for a keyword search within the free-text "officer notes" or "offence particulars" field without exceeding the Section 12 cost limit, please provide the number of the above offences (or general lighting offences) where the officer notes contain any of the following keywords:
   o "LED"
   o          "HID"
   o          "Xenon"
   o          "Aftermarket"
   o          "Retrofit"
   There is no keyword facility within the Pronto system used; the two records found in response to question 1 were manually reviewed. No evidence on Pronto re LED, HID, Xenon, Aftermarket or Retrofit was found. Question 2 is a Zero return.

3. The total number of Vehicle Defect Rectification Scheme (VDRS) notices or PG9 Prohibition notices issued specifically for non-compliant front headlamps.
   
   

If providing data for Question 2 or Question 3 triggers the Section 12 cost limit, please discard those questions and proceed with answering Question 1 alone. If providing data for the first part of the question triggers the Section 12 cost limit, please prioritise the most recent years listed.

Question 3 has been omitted as suggested as it is over the 18-hour fees limit. There is no specific offence for non-compliant front headlights and the Pronto system used does not have a keyword facility. A manual search of each VDRS record would need to be completed to determine if it related to a non-compliant headlamp. 1860 VDRS were issued and a single check would take approximately 7 minutes. This means it would take an estimated 217 hours to provide the information for question 3.