A FREEDOM of Information (FoI) request appears to show that council vehicles broke the 20mph speed limits across the Borders 83 times in February.

In response to the data, a Scottish Borders Council (SBC) spokesperson said there were “some discrepancies” where the vehicle tracking systems provided a 20mph alert on a 60mph road.

The council rolled out new 20mph limits last year as part of an 18-month trial covering 91 Borders locations.

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Responding to the FoI request querying the number of incidents of tracked council vehicles exceeding 20mph in 20mph areas between February 1-28, 2021, SBC revealed that there were 83 ‘pinged’ incidents of vehicles breaking the limit.

According to the council, the highest speed recorded by one of its tracked vehicles in a 20mph area during this period was 37mph.

Directly responding to the request, a council spokesperson said: “I have interrogated the vehicle tracking system that our vehicles use and can provide the following information with a degree of confidence and excluding errors on the mapping system.”

They added: “Whilst every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is accurate, no guarantee is made.”

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When asked for comment on the figures provided from the FoI request – submitted by ‘A Non’ – a SBC spokesperson said: “The council expects everyone to abide by the speed limits in place on our local roads.

“Our staff are no exception to this and this will once again be reiterated to them by senior management.

“In respect of this data, further interrogation has revealed some discrepancies where the system has provided a speeding alert in areas where a 60mph limit is in place, rather than a 20mph limit.”