Scamera Makes £72,000 In Three Weeks

Lancashire mobile camera snaps 1,200 drivers in less than a month

By Oli S / Thursday, 19 June 2008 / Loading comments

Similar mobile speed van

Over 1,200 drivers have been caught speeding in just three weeks by a single Lancashire mobile scamera, it has been reported. This has raked in £72,000 – seven times the average Lancashire speed camera’s revenue in a year.

Police set the device up in a lay-by on the 70mph A56 bypass to enforce a 50mph limit during roadworks. The device will be there for another 13 weeks while a £2.8million project to lay a new road surface and lighting is completed.

The camera is placed just after a bend and it is mainly used during rush hour. Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans told the Lancashire Telegraph: ‘They really are raking the cash in on this camera. It is as if they have hit the jackpot by putting this camera there.

‘It is obscene how many people have been caught. I think for those motorists that were doing under 70mph a warning letter would have sufficed. Why did they not put an electronic warning sign in place to slow the traffic down rather than a camera that is hitting the already hard-pressed motorist further?’

Paul Watters of the AA said: ‘Our standpoint is that the best speed enforcement device in roadworks is one that operates just when there are workers in the road. If the road is free from obstacles the cameras should not be in place. If the cameras are catching such a large number of drivers then maybe the local Highways Agency needs to re-enforce the signage around the camera to warn about the reduction in the speed limit.’

Claire Armstrong, co-founder of campaign group Safe Speed, said: ‘Reducing speed from 70mph to 50 in many cases is unnecessary and provides no additional safety. You can't measure safe driving in miles per hour. This is not a scheme designed to increase safety but is designed to increase revenues from drivers and continues the persecution of motorists.’