Motorists are expressing displeasure with what they see as blatant revenue raising by throwing bricks at mobile speed camera vans in Australia and the UK. Over the past three years, the number of such attacks has risen sharply.

On Monday, Colchester, UK motorist Ian Lovell, 20, faced assault charges when the brick he hurled at a speed camera hit the police officer who was manning the trap.

In Victoria, Australia last week a motorist hurled a brick through the back window of a speed camera van while its operator, a private contractor for Tenix Solutions, was inside. The incident happened at 8.45pm on Canterbury Road in Blackburn, but police have no suspects.

In 2003, just seven percent of all photo enforcement devices were attacked in the Australian state, compared to 27 percent last year. The amount of damage done during these incidents has similarly grown. In 2003, there were 8 attacks that did $19,045 worth of damage, 23 attacks worth $26,122 in 2004 to 39 attacks worth $29,971 in 2005.