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| News Story 7. | News Headlines. |
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| This Article was written by Ray Massey: [Transport Editor:] it was publish in Britain on 16th. December, 2003... by 'The Daily Mail'. | |
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Speed-trap backlash: It's all about money and not safety..... |
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| It's all about money and not safety, says council. Motorists have long suspected that speed cameras are mainly focusing on their wallets. Now council leaders have added their voices to protests that speed traps have become a cynical money-making exercise. | |
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| North Somerset Council is threatening to pull out of the Avon, Somerset and Gloucestershire Safety Camera Partnership - which administers the scheme - unless it stops trying to trap motorists rather than improve safety. The council believes the 'cash for cameras' scheme may collapse if it withdraws its co-operation. It will then take charge of running cameras in its area. | |
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| Mike Roe, the Tory leader of the council, said: "We have created a Frankenstein's monster. The Partnership has taken on a life of its own and is no longer accountable to anyone. The cameras are simply an income generator for the Partnership and a tax generator for the Treasury. We feel they are fuelling the bureaucracy of more cameras and more people. It is a massive job creation scheme". | |
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'Fuelling an army of bureaucrats' |
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| "People feel very angry about it because it's seen as an income tax machine. We are speaking as people who are on the inside. There is strong evidence that cameras are being used in an underhand way. They are flouting the guidelines in the extreme. They are putting cameras in places which are very difficult to see. They are not necessarily on roads leading directly from or to accident blackspots". | |
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| He said the Partnership had clearly chosen to situate some of its cameras to trap drivers. The Partnership, which employs up to 100 administrators and engineers and 12 mobile enforcement teams, has controversially set a quota of catching 150,000 motorists a year. Next year it aims to raise £6million in penalty payments, compared to £1.6million this year. | |
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| In June, a mobile speed camera unit run by the Avon, Somerset and Gloucestershire Partnership was photographed illegally parked on a double yellow line, half in a cycle lane and half on the pavement. The incident prompted Assistant Chief Constable Steve Mortimore, of Avon and Somerset Police - another 'partner' - to attack the 'appalling and hypocritical' methods. | |
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| North Somerset Council is to complain directly to Transport Secretary Alistair Darling, urging him to reform the system. The local Partnership is made up of 13 organisations including councils, police forces, court committees, the Crown Prosecution Service and primary healthcare trusts. The Partnership is funded by money raised through fines, with any excess going to the Lord Chancellor's department in Whitehall. | |
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| It is the first time that council chiefs, who along with police are integral to the Partnerships, have spoken out so vocally against the way the cameras are being operated. The attack follows increasing frustration and anger from motorists over the antics of many other Partnerships, which are accused of being 'unaccountable, arrogant and remote'. | |
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| A spokesman for the Transport Department said: "If they are flouting the strict guidelines we will come down on them". There are 43 camera Partnerships covering virtually all of the UK, although Durham's police chief refuses to join one. Speed-camera convictions are likely to top two million this year and are on course for three million a year, according to police. They predict that the number of cameras will grow from 4,500 to more than 7,000. | |
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