Town hall bosses scrap ‘cash cow’ speed cameras

A town is planning to scrap ‘cash cow’ speed cameras because they are a ‘blatant tax on the motorist’.

The move by Swindon Borough Council would make it the first in the UK to ditch the devices.

Town hall bosses say the £60 speeding penalty fine is ’snatched’ by the Treasury and the council does not receive a penny.

Many of the town’s speed cameras are not in use because the council believes it should receive the revenue, not the Government.

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Now the Tory-run local authority has announced plans to end its contract with the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership.

The partnership, which has been running for five years, operates 16 fixed speed cameras, three red-light cameras and other mobile traps.

But the council claims that the £320,000 it pays into the partnership each year should be spent on cheaper road-safety schemes such as better street lighting and improved road surfaces.

Tory councillor Peter Greenhalgh said: ‘These are far more effective than speed cameras which, I feel, are a blatant tax on the motorist.’

‘There are much more important things we as a council should do instead of acting as a law enforcement arm of this Government.’

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