Cameras Catch The Right Car In The Wrong Place
Scores of Sunderland motorists have received wrong speeding tickets because of a clerical error.
About 60 city drivers were baffled by "intention to prosecute" letters for breaking the speed limit on Sheriff's Highway, Gateshead, on February 9 – even though they may have been miles from there.
The Safety Camera Partnership, set up to reduce the number of accidents on Northumbria roads, today apologised for the mistake and said "human error" was to blame.
The partnership said the alleged speeders were actually snapped in Springwell Road, in Sunderland, and a mix-up led to the wrong information being sent .
The clerical cock-up was spotted yesterday after motorists such as Kim White, of Woodside, East Herrington, queried the prosecution details.
Kim, 43, thought it odd that either she or her husband Alan would have been in Sheriff's Way .
Her calendar showed an appointment to get their Westie puppy Finlay's hair cut in Farringdon, 20 minutes after they were supposedly clocked at 38mph on Sheriff's Way, some 12 miles away.
As they had gone there from Safeway in Silksworth, Kim knew the speeding ticket was wrong and rang the Fixed Penalty Unit.
"They said it was a clerical error and they had lots of clerical errors on that particular day," she said.
"I'm really angry. How can you have any confidence in the system when this happens?"
The Safety Camera Partnership said all camera sites have a three-digit reference number. Sheriff's Highway is 547 and Springwell Road is 574, and the numbers were mixed up.
" Letters are going out today correcting this information," said a spokesman
"It was a human error, which happens from time to time. We apologise for any distress we have caused."
23 February 2005
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My emphasis.
Pity drivers aren't allowed to make them, eh?