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300 get refunds in 'unsafe' speed trap
POLICE are handing back 300 fines to drivers after speed guns were found to be wrongly set up.
The Lancashire force has been order to rescind the fines, including those for drivers on the Fylde, after a probe by an independent police watchdog.
Anti-speed camera campaigners say lives could have been ruined by the faulty cameras as motorists risked bans which could cost them their living.
Driver Stephen Hunter ,of Devonshire Road, Blackpool, received a cheque for 185 and had four points removed from his licence after being caught by a speed gun on Clifton Drive, South Shore, on July 18 last year.
He said: "This is a very serious thing to have happened.
"Luckily for me, the points I got did not mean I lost my licence but it could have for some people and that can be their livelihood gone.
"I was on my way to work at 7.20am when the camera supposedly caught me. I was re-doing my mortgage and my wife was getting ready to go abroad for work so with all that going on I overlooked paying the fine.
"So because it went to court I had to pay 150 with 35 costs. I just accepted it but this shows that actually if you get a speeding ticket perhaps you should question it.
"If people think they weren't speeding, they need to check instead of just taking it for granted when you get a letter through saying you were speeding."
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) launched an investigation last autumn after allegations that a member of staff had incorrectly calibrated mobile speed cameras and that four members of staff had failed to process court documents correctly at Lancashire Police's central processing unit in Blackburn.
An IPCC spokesman confirmed Mr Hunter was one of the people identified through the investigation.
The spokesman said: "The IPCC can confirm that the process of rescinding speeding tickets has begun as a result of information uncovered during the investigation into allegations that a member of Lancashire Constabulary staff had incorrectly calibrated mobile speed cameras.
"The investigation is ongoing, but Lancashire Constabulary has written to approximately 300 motorists whose convictions have been deemed unsafe."
Lancashire Police refused to comment until the investigation was concluded.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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