Refunds for thousands of motorists thanks to problems with signs on A3024? (From Daily Echo)

Refunds for thousands of motorists thanks to problems with signs on A3024?

12:30pm Wednesday 7th January 2009 in

By Jon Reeve » Education Reporter

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THOUSANDS of Hampshire motorists could be in line for refunds after being fined for speeding along one of Hampshire’s busiest roads.

Speed cameras on a major route into and out of Southampton should be suspended immediately because the 50mph zone they enforce has no legal standing, it has been claimed.

One driver believes a catalogue of “serious defects” with signs means anyone punished should be given their money back and penalty points taken off their licence.

Hampshire’s Safer Roads Partnership, which oversees the county’s speed cameras, admitted there are some problems on the A35 and A3024, which it is working with councils to correct.

But it insisted none of the cameras are in positions where signs are unlawful and that no motorist has been incorrectly prosecuted or handed a fixed penalty, meaning no one is entitled to their money back.

The route – stretching from Hunters Hill near Ashurst to Mountbatten Way in Southampton – is used by thousands of cars every day, providing the main link between the city centre and the west, ferrying motorists to and from the New Forest and M271.

Tony Seaton has made his claims in a formal complaint lodged with the partnership, listing 21 defects he says he has found on the road.

“There are many ways into the site that make the speed limit null and void,” he said.

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“It means four of the five cameras on that road are in unenforceable zones.

“This can’t carry on. How many drivers have fines, points, bans and suspended novice licences due to these poorly-signed limits?

“I want them to refund every wrongful fixed penalty notice and start to correct every wrongful court case.”

Mr Seaton’s action comes 15 months after he successfully joined other motorists and experts to fight prosecutions over speeding tickets issued on the A27 in and around Fareham.

District Judge Philip Gillibrand threw out 14 cases after ruling faults in the way speed limits had been signposted meant they had no legal standing.

The campaigners argued the cases meant every fine paid for speeding offences on the same stretch of road should have been handed back, potentially costing millions of pounds.

Those hopes were dashed when Judge Gillibrand later said his judgement only related to the individual cases.

But he criticised the authorities and called for an urgent review of street signs to ensure similar cases could not be thrown out for the same reason.

Now Mr Seaton, a BT draughtsman from Rownhams, says he was so frustrated by what he saw as a lack of action that he decided to catalogue all the faults on and around the Millbrook Road – which he drives every day.

See today's Daily Echo for the full story

Comments(18)

10 Minute Man says...
9:40am Wed 7 Jan 09

I'm all for speeding drivers being fined if there's a real safety issue and reason for setting the limit to a particular level. Those setting the limits have a duty to stick to the rules and make sure valid fines can be issued - it doesn't look like they are doing their jobs properly.

I don't think they are splitting hairs here either - the defects are many and I am often unsure about what the limits are. This is a major route - possibly the busiest into the city.

If they aren't collecting the money to spend on road safety improvements or maintaining adequate signage, then what's it for?