5,000 MOTORISTS CHEATED IN LATEST CAMERA DISASTER.
17 February 2005 - Safe Speed

In a landmark case in Salisbury Magistrates court today 28 motorists had speeding cases dismissed because the temporary speed limit signs had not been displayed properly.

An estimated 5,000 more motorists have paid their fine and are entitled to refunds and compensation.

Salisbury Magistrates agreed the speed limit at the A303 at Folly Bottom did not exist in law. However is was heavily enforced with cameras.

Safe Speed said this careless mismanagement is all too typical of the way that speed cameras are used on our roads.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign,
(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: ''5,000 have paid fines when they were not in breach of any law. I hope the authorities will contact them promptly and ensure that they are both refunded and compensated for the stress and inconvenience. Whoever is responsible for this fiasco should lose their job.''

Paul continued ''When the authorities enforce technical regulations they must always be aware of their matching obligations. Some might claim that these motorists are ''getting away with it on a technicality, but none of us can be expected to obey a speed limit if we do not know that it was there. It really is that simple.

Claire Allison, 46, a make-up artist was the ''prime mover'' behind the cases coming to court. She said: ''I drive a very high mileage and I do my very best to always drive safely. The ticket in the post made me so angry because I knew that I hadn''t passed a speed limit sign. Safe Speed put me in touch with Richard Bentley last year and I took hundreds of photographs to support my case. I am so relieved it is all over.''

Richard Bentley, the signing expert who supported the defence cases with evidence of the faulty signs said: ''The onus is clearly on the highway authority to get it right in the first place. They failed in that duty and members of the public have been massively inconvenienced.''

Barry Culshaw, defence solicitor said: ''The signing regime at the enforcement sight aptly named folly bottom was fundamentally flawed in a number of material respects additionally a number of my clients had been prosecuted under the wrong part of the legislation. 25 clients facing allegations at Folly Bottom had their summonses dismissed and 2 further defendants were similarly acquitted in relation to speed enforcement at a site at Wylye further westbound on the A303

www.safespeed.org.uk

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