Thousands of drivers in England, the United Kingdom, could have their speeding fines cancelled following a technical fault that caused certain cameras to trigger incorrectly on A roads and motorways.
National Highways revealed that it had identified 2,650 wrongful speed camera activations since 2021, caused by a delay between the cameras and variable speed signs.
Drivers affected by the issue will be contacted by police, reimbursed for any fines, and have points removed from their licences where necessary.
Not every camera activation results in a fine, so not all of the incorrect activations led to penalties.
National Highways apologised for the mistake.
“Safety is our number one priority,” said chief executive Nick Harris.
“All drivers should continue observing the posted speed limits as normal. Anyone who has been impacted will be contacted by the relevant police force.”
The agency said a temporary solution has been implemented, adding an extra layer of data from the cameras to help police filter out faulty captures.
However, a permanent fix does not yet have a clear timeline.
National Highways, responsible for England’s motorways, said the problem arose from an “anomaly” in how variable speed cameras interact with signs on some A roads and motorways.
This anomaly caused a roughly 10-second delay between cameras and the associated variable speed signs, meaning some drivers were wrongly flagged for speeding after a limit had changed.
For instance, on a road where the speed limit increases, a driver may see a 60mph sign, but the camera could still be recording at the previous 40mph limit.
According to National Highways, the 2,650 incidents since 2021 equate to fewer than two errors per day, compared with over six million camera activations on the affected roads during the same period. The fault has impacted 10% of England’s motorways and major A roads.
The issue involves 154 cameras out of 400 across the motorway network, including all variable speed cameras on smart motorways, a stretch of the A14 between Huntingdon and Cambridge, and the A1 approach junction to the A14.
Andy Walpole, 55, from Swindon, was among those wrongly issued a ticket on the M25 between junction 9 and Cobham services.
“I was adamant I wasn’t speeding. I drive for a living, so I adhere to the variable speed limits within a mile an hour, so I knew I wasn’t,” he told the BBC.
He chose to pay for a speed awareness course rather than contest the fine, feeling that appealing would be difficult. Though he was refunded for the course, he questioned the system’s reliability:
“How can we have trust and faith in the system now?”
He also raised concerns about the impact on insurance premiums for drivers who accepted points:
“What if you took your car insurance out the day after you’d taken the points? You declared those points on your insurance — where do you stand then?”
National Highways is collaborating with police to verify camera activations and has promised that no one will be wrongly prosecuted going forward.
Police forces have meanwhile suspended issuing fines from variable speed cameras until accuracy can be ensured.
A Department for Transport spokesperson added, “We apologise to anyone who has been affected. Safety was never compromised, and we are working with policing to ensure nobody is incorrectly prosecuted in future.
“Enforcement is still in place, and the public can remain confident that only motorists who break the rules will be penalised.”
