Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/12/1281.asp

8/10/2006

UK: Camera Vigilante Faces 10 Years in Jail
A man admits he used thermite to destroy a speed camera in Manchester, UK. One out of every six UK motorists support such actions.

An engineer fed up with Britain's six thousand speed cameras took matters into his own hands and was caught after attempting to destroy an automated ticket machine with thermite. Craig Moore, 28, pleaded guilty yesterday to the charge of causing £11,700 ($22,250) in damage to a camera in Manchester on August 14, 2005.

Moore is not alone in his frustration. More than five million UK drivers -- one out of every six -- support the destruction of speed cameras according to an ICM Research survey released yesterday by Road Angel, a company that makes satellite navigation devices. The number of speed camera attacks in the UK has doubled in the past year with vigilantes doing £800,000 (US $1.5 million) in damage last year -- up from about £400,000 the prior year.

Moore's explosive did not succeed in destroying the photographs stored on the hard drive located at the base of the camera, rather it caused the device to take a picture of Moore's car which, without thinking, he parked right in front of the camera. Police identified Moore after recovering the photographs from a forensics lab. Moore is out on bail until a sentencing hearing scheduled for September 6.

Source: Angry driver blew chance of beating speed camera ticket (London Times (UK), 8/10/2006)

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