LOVE 'em or loath 'em, you have got to be able to trust speed cameras.
But today thousands of motorists will wonder whether they should have trusted their instincts and challenged fines after being caught out by a camera.
That is exactly what Sheffield motorist Clive Hague did. He was convinced he was not exceeding t
he 30mph limit when he was filmed by a speed camera, which reckoned that he was travelling at 38mph.
And instead of the public purse profiting from him, it has cost the taxpayers an estimated £5,000 in court costs after South Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership failed to show that it had followed the guidelines for testing the speed camera on the day Mr Hague was 'caught'.
What is particularly worrying in the case is that the officer who was behind the speed camera at the time of the alleged offence insists he was following his training to the letter.
If that is so, this throws doubt over that training and whether thousands of other motorists were wrongly fined.
For if there is anything the public should be able to trust even more than the accuracy of a speed camera, it is the word of a policeman.
Why it's right to work with public THE success story of a group of residents in Shiregreen, who have finally persuaded the local council to fence off a piece of waste ground which had become a haven for layabouts and fly tippers, will offer encouragement to people throughout the city who face similar problems.
For there will be scores of other sites around the city which are not only an eyesore but also inflame local opinion about what the council should do to solve the problem.
But there is a positive side to this. For it shows that many people share a strong sense of civic pride and want their neighbourhoods to be clean and tidy, rather than handed over to trouble causers. This is a highly valuable attitude among members of the public which should be nurtured and directed. It is a shame that the Shiregreen view was ignored for so long.
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FeaturesMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport. The full article contains 408 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
