One in 20 drivers would be willing to take on penalty points for a friend or relative according to research which also suggested that there is widespread ignorance that the practise is against the law.
Two-thirds (66%) of motorists willing to do so told a survey last summer that they would do it to ensure their friend was not disqualified from driving, while more than half (59%) said they would do it to protect their friend's livelihood if losing their licence also meant losing their job,
A fifth (21%) said that they would be prepared to take on points for a friend because, despite incurring penalty points, they believed that their friend was a "safe" driver.
Of those who admitted taking on someone else's penalty points, 6% said they were paid to do it.
About 300,000 drivers have lied and said they were driving their friend or partner's car when they were caught speeding and taken on the penalty points incurred by the offence, according to the research by LV Insurance.
The issuing of fixed penalty notices for speeding offences has been falling, according to Home Office figures released last year, but more than 1.1m such notices were still issued in 2009 alone.
Research carried out by Ipsos Mori in 2006 suggested that the practice of penalty point swapping was even more widespread, with as many as 12% of drivers surveyed saying that they would ask a relative or friend to take speed camera penalty points for them if they were facing a driving ban.
The same survey also found that 13% of drivers would agree to take the points in the same circumstances and that the illegal practice was most prevalent among younger motorists.
Men were also 13% more slightly more likely to ask someone to take their points than women, according to the 2006 poll by Ipsos Mori.
Motorists in the East Midlands (6%), eastern England (8%) and north-east England (8%) were less likely to ask for their points to be swapped although the biggest potential for the practice was in south-west England where 20% would ask someone to take their points, and in south-east England where 18% of drivers admitted they would consider taking points from someone else.
