Speed ticket warning
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by David Craik • Hauliers are warned to be on the look-out for fake speeding camera tickets demanding payments of £130 after police uncovered a scam. More than 100 South-Eastern operators have received bogus speed camera tickets claiming their vehicles have been caught speeding.
DC Kevin Williams of Hornsey Police says the suspect is noting down truck number plates and company names from the sides of vehicles.
"The fake tickets say pay £130 or be taken to court," says Williams. Twenty companies have paid over cheques which have been recovered by police.
Chris Maguire, general manager of east London's Olympus Tiles, received a ticket this November. "We were surprised," he says. "What made us suspicious was that our regis tration number on the ticket was wrong. We tried the contact number and checked the name, CRTC. We found out it was false."
Sue Hubbard of Kent-based Robert Hubbard Haulage received a letter from "Central Road Traffic Control" ordering her company to set up driver improvement seminars. The letter says that the seminars must be held to prevent "possible prosecutions" and demands £85 per driver up front "We are very angry that people can try to dupe hauliers this way," says Hubbard.
Williams knows of more than 20 of these letters which have been sent out to companies. "We think the two are connected," he says. Contact DC Kevin Williams at Hornsey CID on 0181 340 1212.
CI Ministers are considering asking drivers caught by legitimate roadside cameras to pay £10 on top of their fines to pay for the cost of operating the system.