A Sussex motorist was caught speeding at 152mph last year, making him the worst offender in the country.

The reckless driver's offence was revealed as figures showed 6 per cent more motorists were caught speeding last year than in 2010 The figures also showed that offending speeders drove at an average 56mph in 2011 compared with 54mph in 2010, the statistics from a freedom of information request to police forces showed.

According to data from 36 of the police forces in Britain who responded, there were 955,459 incidents of speeding in 2011 - up from 899,934 in 2010.

A separate survey of 1,531 drivers by insurance company LV= showed that since 2009, 9 per cent had been caught speeding and 17 per cent of these had been caught two or three times.

The survey showed that 71 per cent could not name the speed limit on a rural road, single carriageway, dual carriageway, motorway or a road in a built-up area.

When shown photographs of different roads, 33 per cent could not correctly identify the 60mph speed limit for a single carriageway and 52 per cent did not know the speed limit on a rural road without street lights.

As many as 30 per cent believe the 70mph speed limit is too slow, while 64 per cent welcome the planned speed limit rise to 80mph.

As many as 41 per cent say they routinely break the current 70mph limit when they think they can get away with it.

Government proposals to increase speeding fines from £60 to as much as £100 to compensate victims of crime were not welcomed, with 40 per cent seeing the increase as an unfair tax and 42 per cent saying it was unfair to penalise drivers for other people's crimes.