Innocent motorists wrongly punished by speed camera glitch on smart motorways going back SEVEN years could have penalties revoked

Thousands of drivers could have their speeding tickets canceled due to a speed camera fault that persists for years.

Transport Minister Heidi Alexander this week ordered an independent review into the errors, which ‘resulted in a number of people wrongly facing sanctions for speeding’.

More than 36,000 speeding incidents were canceled last month after a glitch was detected in variable speed camera systems on smart motorways and some A-roads, the Mail revealed.

The cases date back to 2021, when the new technology was introduced.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed that National Highways, which operates the strategic road network in England, will investigate cases dating back to 2019, when the ‘upgrade’ of cameras began to ensure that everyone affected is identified.

Some drivers are thought to have been banned from the road after being unfairly prosecuted in a small number of cases.

Experts have warned that the scandal could cost taxpayers millions of pounds.

Hugh Bladon, senior spokesman for the British Drivers’ Association, said: ‘When you consider that someone could lose their license and perhaps their job as a result of one of these faulty speed cameras, the consequences are incredible.

The issue was caused by a technical glitch that meant there was occasionally a delay of several seconds between the portal signs indicating a change in the variable speed limit and the cameras recording the change.

‘There are so many people who are unfairly punished for doing something completely innocent.

‘God knows how the government will arrange this compensation. If you are someone who lost your job because you wrongfully lost your driver’s license, how do you make up for it?

‘The cost to the government will be very heavy’

‘And it’s going to be a huge headache for the Government to try to resolve this situation, but I think the drivers affected by this will need to come forward and say: This happened to me.

‘We have heard stories of people being punished unfairly and this means justice has gone awry.’

The technical glitch meant that there was occasionally a delay of several seconds between the bridge signs indicating a change to the variable speed limit and the cameras recording the change.

The fault meant that some people were clocked as the wrong speed, despite traveling at the speed shown on the portal sign.

This was only revealed after the drivers produced dashcam footage in court showing they were driving at the correct speed.

The scandal casts further doubt on the safety of smart motorways; Variable speed camera technology is so named because it manages traffic flow and congestion, especially on busy sections of the road.

At one point, a mistake caused the police to turn off the cameras because their accuracy could not be trusted.

It is thought to have affected 154 speed cameras over a four-year period, leading to an estimated two failures per day, equating to roughly 0.1 per cent of camera activations.

Philip Somarakis, a leading criminal and regulatory lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: ‘We welcome the independent review.

‘I’m sure there will be many drivers left extremely frustrated by the potential for problems with variable speed limit enforcement to go back even longer than they initially appear.

‘I would also like to note that the review will specifically consider the circumstances in which technical and operational issues were identified, including but not limited to technical anomaly, and how and when these were communicated to management and the board within National Highways.

‘This is not an isolated incident involving the application of variable speed limits and raises the question of whether the investigation could have identified other faults.’

The new review will be led by DfT board member Tracey Westell, who has been appointed to investigate how the fault occurred and whether it should have been detected earlier.

A DfT spokesman said: ‘The traveling public needs to have confidence that the technology on our roads works as intended.

‘An independent review will examine how the anomaly occurred, how it was handled and what changes are required to ensure it does not happen again.’

The decision to review cases until 2019 means many more drivers could potentially have their speeding fines canceled.

Approximately 2,650 innocent drivers have already been identified. Police also informed 36,000 motorists that speed awareness courses had been canceled as a precaution.

National Highways had previously apologized for the disruption and said the new checks meant no one would be wrongly judged.

A spokesman said the cameras were still able to enforce the 70mph national speed limit on affected highways.

The scandal casts further doubt on the safety of smart motorways as variable speed camera technology manages traffic flow and congestion on particularly busy sections of road.

The Daily Mail has long campaigned for better safety on controversial roads; because studies show that the UK’s almost 400 miles of smart motorways without hard shoulders are three times more lethal than those that maintain a safety lane.