If you think keeping to a 20mph speed limit is bad, how about keeping to that speed knowing there is a speed camera watching you, and it’s at the bottom of a hill!

Furious motorists in Plymouth, Devon have accused local police of using the technology as a ‘cash-cow’ after Devon and Cornwall police installed the region’s first ever 20mph at the bottom of a hill.

The camera has caught 23,500 speeding drivers in an eight-week trial period, including 1,100 in its first day. That test period saw drivers avoid prosecution, but once the camera went officially live there were still 140 motorists caught and having to pay a fine.

The Sun newspaper quotes local cafe owner Carl White who claims the camera is a cash cow, saying: “It is an absolute nightmare, the limit is dangerously slow. I think they are doing all they can to rob people.”

But the region’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Alison Hernandes has said that she expected lots of correspondence relating to the camera, but that she will not apologise for backing speed cameras until deaths stop.

She said: “Firstly, the camera was installed by the council after people living on their road called for action to make it safer, and said they preferred it to traffic calming measures, so this step has been taken with the people who really matter in mind, the men, women and children who live in this residential part of our police force area and felt threatened by speeding drivers.

“Secondly, police and partners agree that there must be no let up in the efforts to make our roads safer in every way. Predictably and as reliably as the changing of the clocks the onset of summer has brought with it a number of collisions with tragic consequences across Devon and Cornwall.”

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