More than 50 British soldiers were arrested in Northern Ireland during 2002 for driving without car insurance, it was revealed today.
Ten off-duty members of the armed forces also faced charges of being behind the wheel without a licence.
The figures emerged as military chiefs were criticised by a coroner for not having a soldier wanted over serious driving offences handed over months before he killed his teenage girlfriend in a horrific road crash.
At the inquest into the death of Gemma Montgomery (18), ex-private Gordon Godley was also accused of a reckless disregard for her life when he smashed his vehicle into oncoming traffic at up to 90 mph.
The accident on a stretch of road in County Down in November 2002 came after his regiment, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was alerted to warrants out for his arrest in his home town of Stirling.
With police in Scotland attempting to have the soldier, who was disqualified from driving, brought from his base at Palace Barracks near Belfast, his commanding officer instructed staff to arrange for his court appearance.
But Godley continued to serve in Northern Ireland and, fatally, his uninsured Honda CRX hit a Mercedes while he was driving Gemma from her home in Bangor to spend the night at his barracks.
The A-level student was flung from the passenger seat as the car split in two with the force of the impact. She died almost instantly.
Her parents, John and Esther, have laid the blame for her death at the Army's door, insisting more could have been done to have Godley arrested.
Ms Deborah Malcolm, the deputy coroner for Belfast, also claimed the military authorities should have acted. She said: "It appears to me that if the regiment with whom Godley was in service was aware of the warrant they should have facilitated the speedy execution of such."
PA