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Is a motorist with a grudge behind postal bomb attacks?
Last updated at 23:52pm on 06.02.07Police fear a militant motorist is behind a letter-bomb campaign against firms linked to spy camera fines, it emerged last night.
Two Jiffy bags have exploded within 24 hours at companies which help administer penalty tickets.
Last night, firms, councils and police forces linked to motoring fines were put on alert over concerns that more bombs could be in the post.
A blast yesterday left two male workers at the accountancy firm Vantis in Wokingham, Berkshire, with injuries to their hands and upper bodies.
The explosion came a day after a parcel exploded at the UK headquarters of Capita, which runs the congestion charge scheme in Central London. It injured a woman postroom worker.
All the victims' injuries were minor but detectives warn that the next victim could be seriously hurt.
Possible links to three letter bombs sent in January to addresses in Oxfordshire and Birmingham are being investigated. Officers previously thought they were sent by animal rights extremists.
Vantis handles accounts for road camera operator Speed Check Services. The bomb was addressed to SCS managing director Paul Davey.
His wife, Mary, said her husband phoned just after the device went off to warn her not to open the mail.
She said: "It was terrifying but we can't let this person win, so we will carry on as normal."
The firm, which is based in Camberley, Surrey, uses Vantis as its official registered office.
Vantis's address appears on SCS letters to motorists. It operates a network of SPECS digital cameras which catch speeding drivers out by reading their numberplates and measuring their average speed between two points.
Touted on the firm's website as "the ultimate deterrent", such cameras are partly responsible for the rising number of speeding tickets issued each year.
The Capita bomb – addressed to chief executive Paul Pindar – was opened in Victoria, Central London, on Monday morning.
The injured woman is still being treated for cuts to her stomach and hands but is making a good recovery.
More than two million fixed-penalty tickets are handed out each year, generating around £120 million.
They are triggered by more than 6,000 cameras administered by operators such as police forces and local "safety partnerships".
But many fine and debt collections are carried out by firms such as Capita. The rapid increase in fines for illegal parking, speeding or failing to pay tolls has angered many motorists and speed cameras have been vandalised, burnt and even stolen.
Anti-camera campaigner "Captain Gatso", director of Motorists Against Detection, said last night: "We're not responsible for these attacks and do not condone causing injury.
"However, there is a war against motorists and it seems this is an act of retaliation."
The five letter-bomb attacks are being investigated by the National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit – a police squad that deals with domestic fanatics – with the help of anti-terror officers from Scotland Yard.
Is a motorist with a grudge behind postal bomb attacks?
Reader views (4)
These are two terrible crimes and the people injured will surely be trumatised for some time to come. Perhaps we should look at what the motorist has to contend with. Tax, tax and more tax. Road Fund, Petrol, Road Charging and Speeding Fines. It is making the car a thing for the wealthy. If you are doing 32 in a 30, why should you get three points on your licence, you might as well be doing 50 and get the same treatment. There are too many unfair discrepences in motoring law and many of us have been affected by these. If public transport was better then there would be fewer cars doing silly journeys. All that said it still does not justify these crimes, and I hope the police catch him soon before he does some serious damage to another innocent person.
- Mike, Croydon
This is a shocking story. What is this sick person thinking of? Will injuring someone working in a postroom allow them to speed more? Why not just keep to the limit and make the roads safer? This reckless disregard for human life typifies the average motorist who thinks they know better than anyone else how to drive.
- Emma Chambers, Finchley
Of course there's a war vs. motorists. They hog the roads, they get folks stuck in traffic, they're hazards to pedestrians and they beset various cities with haze and fog. The guy making the bombs is supporting this nonsense? (we Americans are even more guilty of motoring nonsense, seeing as America built itself into having to drive cars all over the place, and admittedly a congestion charge looks like a good idea.)
- Ricardo, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Some car drivers have a homicidal sense of entitlement.
These two acts of terrorism were surely directed at London's congestion pricing scheme.
I certainly hope Scotland Yard finds these idiots and puts them in prison for the rest of their lives.
As we say out in California, "These fools must be smoking crack."
- Brian, Oakland, CA, USA
