Speed tickets for London motorists cut by three-quarters
THE number of speeding tickets slapped on motorists by the police in London is to be cut by three-quarters. The Met Police are drawing up plans to reduce the number of notices of intended prosecutions’ from 300,000 last year down to a proposed 80,000
THE number of speeding tickets slapped on motorists by the police in London is to be cut by three-quarters.
The Met Police who run the camera system partnership with City Hall are drawing up plans to reduce the number of notices of intended prosecutions’ from 300,000 last year down to a proposed 80,000 for serious offenders.
But the plans came under fire at the London Assembly last week when Boris Johnson and the Metropolitan Police commissioner were both quizzed over cuts to the huge budget that pays for speed cameras.
The Mayor didn’t think the cut would lead to an increase in casualties, he told the Assembly.
That brought an angry response from the Green Party’s Jenny Jones quoting research showing the number of serious or fatal accidents has fallen by 59 per cent where cameras were located.
“This is a return to the bad old days’ when drivers could speed with impunity,” she said. “This mayor is risking lives with a cut to the cameras in London.”
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But critics have long argued that cameras are being used as “cash cows” to raise funds from already-overtaxed car owners for what are often minor traffic infringements.
This year’s camera grant was to have been �12-and-a-half million. But the highways authority, Transport for London, has reduced the amount they would allow on cameras down to �6m overall, out of which police are only getting �3m, Jenny Jones has learned.
That means 224,000 fewer speeding and red light tickets being issued in the next 12 months in London.
