NEW research has revealed that Gloucestershire is the safest county in the UK when it comes to people keeping their car in good condition.

Work carried out by company Intelligent Car Leasing reveals the county has the best record for the number of motorists receiving driving licence penalty points on “construction and use” offences.

These consist of offences when the condition or use of a vehicle posed risk to the driver or others, including flat or bald tyres, dodgy brakes and headlights not working.

The data used has come via a freedom of information request for the number of cases where points for these offences were applied to licences across the UK.

The final results show the number of cases of construction and use penalties applied per 10,000 residents for each area.

With 4.99 incidences of this type of penalty, being applied per 10,000 Gloucestershire residents, the county takes the title as the UK’s least penalised and potentially safest county.

At the other side of the scale Stirling in Central Scotland has the most penalties and could be considered the most dangerous, with 99.67 incidences of penalties being applied per 10,000 residents.