Speed Camera. Where you one those wrongly caught?

I found the following on the ABD site which MAY affect some people here.

Daylight Robbery on the M4
A blundering Welsh safety camera partnership has admitted to a “mistake” having sited a speed camera outside the limit that it was supposed to be enforcing.

The camera was placed to catch drivers speeding in a temporary 50 mph limit in roadworks on the M4 outside Newport. Instead it photographed aproximately 2,500 drivers who had left the speed limited zone and were legally and properly increasing their speed to normal motorway speed.

The innocent drivers, who have paid fines totalling aproximately £150,000 to the camera partnership, are now entitled to ask for their fines to be refunded and for the penalty points to be removed from their driving licences. But in a shock announcement, the camera partnership has stated that it has no intention of contacting the drivers to inform them of the mistake. Instead it is “considering appeals” from individual drivers. So far there have been ten of these, and all have had their convictions overturned.

The ABD’s Roads and Traffic spokesman, Mark McArthur-Christie said:
"The camera was wrongly sited for over a year and presumably people have been wrongly convicted by it for all that time. It is bad enough that the partnership has not immediately contacted each and and every driver wrongly convicted by this trap, and immediately offered a refund, erasure of points, and compensation.

As the public are becoming increasingly aware, the costs do not stop with the fines. Many of these drivers will have been stigmatised and penalised by having to pay hundreds of pounds in higher insurance premiums. Worse still, some may have been banned and lost their livelihood, all because of a “mistake” over the siting of a speed camera. It is a complete disgrace. No wonder the Camera Partnership is keeping quiet about it. They could be facing huge compensation claims for lost licences and ruined careers."
ABD Chairman Brian Gregory commented:
"The public’s low opinion of these money making partnerships can only plumb new depths when this news breaks. Is there no end to the cynicism in the partnerships’ ‘dash for cash?’ "

Speed cameras do some good but a lot of bad, at least with a live cop in the past he may just give you a big talking too if you have a reasonable excuse but cameras don’t have hearts.
I have gone through one once when it flashed, I was doing 70 through roadworks with a 50 limit in the middle of the night with no body else in sight, It was on the A43 near Silverstone and I was in a rental car, luckily I had rented the car with my US licence and did not get a summons … there was [zb] they could do.

Not subtle enough…and I’ve got a strop on which has to be taken out on someone…L. :wink:

The stuff has hit the fan over here in regards to revenue raisers AKA speed cameras.It is only developing now and the ramifications look like being huge.It started with a young lady being clocked at 170 K/PH in her old clapped out Datsun 180B 1972 model and a currant affairs TV show had proffesionals drive the car at a race track and they said that this car could not do 170 K/PH.
The cash collectors,AKA Government and Police have sheepishly admitteted that another camera site has been withdrawn from use because of FAULTY readings.
IT gets better,a semi trailer has been clocked going up a steep incline in a tunnel at over 187 K/PH which is pretty good as the semis here a speed limited at 100K/PH and this ticket was withdrawn.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and the court cases havn’t started yet,will keep you informed.