Speed Trap That Made £23,000 in Four Hours

Daily Mail, Thursday, January 12, 2006
By Andy Dolan

It is believed to be the most lucrative speed cameras in Britain. But motoring groups last night condemned it as an abuse of the law.

The temporary camera, located in a police van on the A11 in Norfolk, trapped nearly 400 drivers in four hours, raking in well over £20,000 in fines.

Positioned to deter speeders near roadworks at Thickthorn, it is enforcing a 30mph limit on a dual carriageway normally governed by the national maximum 70mph limit.

But drivers have complained that it is sited on a stretch well ahead of the roundabout undergoing roundabout undergoing maintenance.

The camera caught 284 speeders in three hours on Monday morning including some going over 50mph and one clocked at 73mph.

A further 97 were caught in just one hour on Tuesday afternoon, with three travelling over 70mph.

If each driver caught by the camera is given the minimum £60 fine the camera would have generated £22,860. But in reality the total will be greater because drivers travelling over 50mph can be taken to court and hit with bigger penalties.

Paul Smith, of the campaign group Safe Speed, said: “Drivers will automatically slow down according to conditions, such as roadworks, and people drive slowly around roundabouts anyway. This camera was on a stretch of dual carriageway before the roadworks started. To me, it seems to be a cynical misappropriation of the law. Its capture rate is extraordinary. Hour for hour I can't think of any other camera which could equal this.”

Kevin Delaney, head of road safety for the RAC Foundation, said: “I find it difficult to believe that motorists in Norfolk are more lawless than elsewhere – yet scores are being caught speeding at this site. It makes me suspicious. It will certainly seem to some that this camera is a money-making exercise.”

The Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership, which operates cameras in the county, insisted that the speed limit was properly marked, with signs three quarters of a mile in advance of the zone.

A spokesman said the camera was there in the interests of safety for workmen. “The roadworks have been in place for several weeks but before this week we have not had a camera there because the contractors have been working away from the carriageway.”

In 2001, a camera on the M11 in Essex caught a record 2000 drivers in one day, which works out at 83 an hour.

There are no centrally-held figures for speed camera revenue-generation. But last year there were 2.2million camera offences, according to the Department of Transport.

With 6000 cameras in the UK, assuming each offence triggered a minimum £60 fine, each camera would generate an average of around £22,000 a year.

Camera partnerships – made up of police, local authorities and the courts – raised around £120million in fines from two million prosecutions last year.