Speed Camera Firm Axes Jobs

by Becky Hayes

More than 40 jobs have been axed after a Kidderminster-based firm went into administration - just months after celebrating its first royal visit.

Administrators were called into Monitron International Limited on the Birchen Coppice Trading Estate on July 13, after the company, which makes and designs speed cameras, hit cash flow problems.

Forty-five out of the 105 workers were made redundant two days later, on Thursday, as KPMG staff attempted to salvage the business......
 
......"Over the last couple of months we've had the Duke of Kent come and see us and Home Office approval for Redspeed and I thought the company would last forever....."

......."The week before redundancies the work just dried up and there was nothing to do......"

Joint administrator from KPMG, Allan Graham, said: "The business is at the forefront of development within the traffic systems industry but has been suffering from cash flow problems......

...........Monitron International, which was set up in 1987 and has a second site in Rotherham, produces the only digital red light and speed enforcement safety camera in the world approved by the UK Home Office.....

From:

http://www.thisisworcestershire.co.uk/worcestershire/kidderminster/news/KIDDER_NEWS_LATEST5.html

Oh dear.

What a bloody shame..........

28 July 2004

THE man in charge of speed cameras in Norfolk has quit after a report slammed the siting of them.

Barry Parnell, manager of the Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership (NCRP), resigned after the highly confidential report was critical of some fixed camera locations.

He had been shown an interim report arising from a study ordered by Norfolk chief constable Andy Hayman into the validity of camera positions throughout the county.

It is understood the highly confidential report, which will not be made public until September, raises serious doubts about the locations of several cameras.

The in-depth investigation came after an earlier study by the police found the data to justify the siting of some cameras was questionable and, in some cases, unavailable.

One notorious speed camera – in Grapes Hill, Norwich – was decommissioned in April because its positioning could not be justified......

.........The use of speed cameras is a highly controversial issue nationally and Norfolk is no exception. Many people simply see the camera schemes as a money-making exercise and even some of those motorists who support their use are sceptical about the need for them at specific locations.

A NCRP newsletter produced this year says the partnership collected £1,125,490 in fixed penalty fines, just £70 more than its expenditure.

From:

http://www.en24.co.uk/content/News/story.asp?datetime=28+Jul+2004+12%3A14&tbrand=ENOnline&tCategory=NEWS&category=News&brand=ENOnline&itemid=NOED28+Jul+2004+12%3A14%3A52%3A090

 

Norfolk's speed camera chief has resigned after being presented with the initial findings of a review into sitings of the county's cameras.

Barry Parnell, manager of the Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership, stepped down after seeing an interim report.

The report is expected to be critical of the selection of some of the locations for the fixed cameras.

28/07/2004

From Teletext:

http://www.teletext.co.uk/news/index.asp?intregionid=1&intSubSectionID=1&indent=30

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SPEED CAMERA CHIEF QUITS
The manager of a group that organises speed cameras in Norfolk has insisted he did not resign because he expected to be criticised in a report.

Barry Parnell said he left as manager of the Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership for reasons unrelated to an on-going study by Norfolk Police.

He said: "The reasons for my resignation are of a personal nature."


http://www.teletext.co.uk/news/story.asp?intArticleID=67435&intarticlenumber=1&intRegionID=1&intSubsectionID=1&From=I&indent=30

Yeah! Right!

 

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