Thousands of drivers fined incorrectly due to faulty cameras | UK | News
Thousands of drivers across the UK have been incorrectly fined over the past few years due to a “technical issue” triggered by some speed cameras, despite the vehicle not exceeding the speed limit.
National Highways has apologized for the error, which means a “very small number” of drivers have been fined through no fault of their own since 2021.
A software update is understood to have caused problems with variable speed cameras on some A-roads and motorways, causing drivers to be mistakenly detected as speeding after the speed limit had been increased.
National Highways chief executive Nick Harris said: “Safety is our number one priority and we have developed a solution to address this technical anomaly to keep safety on these roads at the highest level and ensure no one is unfairly prosecuted.”
The agency said it has detected approximately 2,650 faulty camera activations since 2021, fewer than two per day.
Not all of these will result in fines, as camera activations are not always enforced and the total amount is less than 0.1% of the 6 million activations in the same period.
The issue has affected 10% of motorways and A-roads in England and National Highways is working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Stating that the police will directly contact people who were fined incorrectly, the institution said that the fines will be refunded and the points will be deleted from their licenses.
Police forces have temporarily stopped issuing fines from floating cameras until they can be sure no one will be unfairly prosecuted, but continue to enforce speed limits in other ways.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We apologize to everyone affected. Safety has never been compromised and we are working with the police to ensure no one is unfairly prosecuted in the future.
“Sanctions are still in force and the public can be assured that only drivers who break the rules will be punished.”
A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said police forces were working to identify and contact a “very limited number of drivers”.
They added: “Police are enforcing a range of offenses, including speeding, on the strategic road network through a range of tactics including mobile camera deployments, road police patrols and average speed sites. This remains unchanged.”
“If you are affected by this issue, we will contact you and details of the compensation plan will be shared in due course. You do not need to take any action.”
