1/22/2006

UK: Sneaky Speed Camera Torched
A hidden speed camera trap on the A370 in North Somerset, UK is incinerated.

A sneaky speed camera along the A370 in Cleeve, North Somerset, UK was destroyed by fire around 10pm on Thursday evening. Villagers say the device was unpopular because it had been deliberately hidden behind a telegraph pole, violating the spirit of national guidelines requiring cameras to be visible. This is the fifth time the camera had been vandalized. A burning tire had ruined a second camera in nearby Flax Bourton just a week earlier.

"They have only got themselves to blame," Felicity Down, owner of the shop nearest to the camera told the Bristol Evening Post. "If they hadn't tried to hide the camera and instead put it in a spot where everyone could easily see it then this would never have happened. We are all in favour of slowing down traffic, just not in this way. They are clearly trying to trap people."

A speed camera was also set on fire on the A1 in Cockburnspath in the Scottish Borders region on Thursday.