Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/18/1863.asp

7/17/2007

UK: Public Applauds Speed Camera Burning
The public applauds as speed cameras in Hampshire, UK are destroyed.

Passing motorists applauded as a pair of speed cameras in Hampshire, UK met with a fiery end in the past week. Burning tires were used to end automated ticketing efforts on Marine Parade West in Lee-on-the-Solent and on Gosport Road in Fareham. Local officials noted public approval of the vigilante efforts.

"There were whoops of delight coming from the cars, but I'm afraid that's the culture we live in today," Fareham Borough Council member Dennis Steadman told the Hampshire Daily Echo newspaper.

The two cameras, along with several other fixed and mobile units, helped the Hampshire speed camera partnership issue 91,119 photo tickets and collect £2,908,560 (US $5,949,700) in revenue in the last fiscal year.

In Surrey, attacks on a single speed camera located at Mickelham Bends caused its operators not only to lose revenue over the past three years while the ticketing machine was inoperative but also from expensive repair bills. An attack this April cost the camera operators £1741 (US $3562) but when it burned on July 13, 2005 it cost £8163 (US $16,698) to fix. In April 2005, an attack caused just just £131 (US $268) in damage before ticketing could resume.

Source: Arsonists Target Hampshire Speed Cameras (Hampshire Daily Echo (UK), 7/16/2007)

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