DRIVERS who try to evade
speeding penalties by
claiming that someone else
was at the wheel will be the
target of a new camera that
captures a clear image of
the driver’s face,
The
Times has learnt.
Police are investing in
the new technology because
of the growing problem of
drivers “passing off”
penalty points to relatives
and friends in order to
avoid an automatic six-month
ban for accumulating twelve
points within three years.
A study last year estimated
that more than 700,000
drivers had passed off
points in the past decade.
Police issued 1.9 million
camera penalties in 2004 and
there are currently 160,000
drivers with a strong
incentive to pass off points
because they have nine
points on their licences,
one offence away from a ban.
The Times understands
that the digital photographs
taken by the new camera will
be studied in any case that
arouses suspicion, including
when the registered keeper
of a vehicle claims that a
partner was driving or tries
to blame someone who was
visiting from overseas. In
disputed cases investigators
employed by police and local
authority camera
partnerships will visit
people’s homes and show them
the photographs.
Drivers who have falsely
given another person’s name
will be told to reconsider
or face prosecution for
perverting the course of
justice.
The new forward-facing
camera has been developed by
Gatso, the biggest speed
camera supplier, to work in
conjunction with traditional
rear-facing cameras. The
flash of the first camera
triggers the second, which
takes a digital image of the
front of the vehicle, using
an infra-red filter to
prevent the driver from
being dazzled and to ensure
clarity in darkness.
The Essex speed camera
partnership has had trials
with ten of the cameras and
used them to identity the
driver in more than 1,000
cases in which the culprits
were either trying to pass
off points or claiming they
did not know who was
driving.
Neil Hamilton, the
disgraced former Tory MP,
and his wife Christine
escaped a penalty for doing
63mph in a 50mph limit in
2003 after claiming that
they could not remember who
had been at the wheel. The
new device would have
identified which of them was
responsible.
The London partnership
has bought five of the
cameras, which cost £10,000
each, and is installing two
on Lower Thames Street in
the City next week. Several
other partnerships,
including Derbyshire, have
expressed interest and
hundreds of the cameras are
expected to be
installed across Britain.
Trevor Hall, operations
manager of the Essex
partnership, said: “The
cameras have been highly
successful in cases where
the driver claims it was his
wife but the image clearly
shows it was a man driving.
When people see the images
it helps to change their
minds.”
Tom Duckham, manager of
the London partnership,
said: “We have 30
enforcement offi-cers who
will be paying visits to
drivers and presenting them
with the pictures.”
He said that the images
would also help to catch
drivers who falsely claimed
that their numberplates had
been copied and fitted to
another car.
Police will also no
longer have to drop cases
involving pool cars shared
by several people, none of
whom will admit to the
offence. A Hampshire police
officer escaped prosecution
for speeding in 2002 because
the force was unable to
prove which of the 100
people authorised to use the
unmarked car had been
driving.
In Essex, four men who
committed a series of street
robberies were caught after
an officer found a picture
of them that night speeding
past a camera in a stolen
Ford Fiesta.
The time-consuming
process of comparing the
camera image with the
suspected offender will be
streamlined from 2012, when
police will be able to
compare instantly on screen
the camera image and the
driving licence photograph
of the registered keeper.
Some drivers caught
passing off speeding
penalties are being
prosecuted for perverting
the course of justice and
jailed or fined several
thousand pounds.
This month, a nurse was
imprisoned for six months
for trying to blame a
speeding offence on her
former sister-in-law, who
lives in America. Joy Rees,
39, was caught at 51mph in a
40mph limit in Plymouth last
July. She had nine points on
her licence and, to avoid a
ban, twice forged signatures
on forms sent by police. She
was caught after the DVLA
contacted the woman in
America.
Stewart and Cathryn
Bromley, of Hyde, near
Stockport, invented a
Bulgarian employee who they
said was driving their car
when they got two speeding
penalties. Mrs Bromley, 42,
travelled to Bulgaria to
send a postcard from him.
They were fined £11,000 last
October.
David Simmonite, 60, of
Bradford, was jailed for
four months in January last
year after claiming that a
French friend was
responsible for a speeding
offence committed by his
daughter. Police found that
the Frenchman had been at
home with a kidney complaint
at the time.
