LONDON (Reuters) - Drivers with points on their licence are no longer automatically penalised with higher insurance premiums, an insurance broker said.

The number of drivers with three or more points on their licence has grown so large that it could soon be viewed as "standard" to have a blemished record, and other factors such as address and type of car could be used to calculate premiums.

Drivers with penalty points in the past would have faced premiums up to four times higher than those with clean licences, but now they could pay the same, Swinton said.

The broker, which has set up a special unit to help handle the rise in numbers, blamed speed cameras for a change in attitude within the industry -- there are now 6,000 speed cameras on British roads.

Neil Ackinclose, head of Swinton Specialist, said: "A few years ago insurers might have assumed that a motorist with six or more points on their licence was a reckless driver, but that is no longer necessarily the case.

"Insurance providers are having to accept that points alone can no longer be used as a yardstick for driver evaluation."

The number of drivers with points on their licence is estimated at more than six million -- 4.5 million of whom have points for speeding, Direct Line said.

Motoring groups point out that speeding cameras do nothing to pick up drunk drivers and do little to help catch uninsured, untaxed or unroadworthy cars.

Malcolm Tarling of the Association of British Insurers, which represents more than 400 firms, said the industry was not condoning motorists picking up penalty points, but that it was now looking at how the points were picked up.

"To say the insurance industry across the board is relaxing is not the full picture," he said.

"The more points the more likely chance there is that the person will be involved in an accident.

"The industry is not giving the green light to speeding."

A spokeswoman for Direct Line said: "For one conviction, you won't see much of an increase because speeding convictions are so common now.

"However, people who repeatedly break the law and speed do see increases, as in our experience they are more likely to have an accident."

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