Huge speed camera cuts

From today, of the 665 fixed cameras in place only 260 will be loaded with film.

But the rest will still flash if triggered by speeding cars, causing confusion for motorists who will not know which is which.

The unloaded cameras are expected to be removed entirely following a further review.

In a second retreat, the number of sites at which mobile speed cameras can be used by police is being slashed from 127 to about 25.

The cutback was ordered by Met Commissioner Sir John Stevens following mounting criticism from drivers and motoring groups who said police were using cameras to raise revenue.

A police spokesman said today: "The Met is fed up with people saying cameras are there just to take money from motorists. They are not. We care about road safety and want to use cameras where there is a safety problem.

"From now we will only use cameras at sites with a serious accident record, not where people are simply going a few miles per hour over the limit."

The new policy will trigger a £10 million drop in the number of motorists fined in London. It will also send a powerful signal to other forces who are steadily increasing the number of cameras.

A London-wide police review was ordered after Sir John publicly condemned the use of cameras to raise revenue. He said last week: "I don't approve of the use of speed cameras as money-making devices. The proper use for them is as a measure to lower the accident rate." From today any camera site that has not had at least four fatal or seriousinjury accidents in the past 36 months will no longer be used by the Met.

Officers have been told that if they want to use cameras not on the approved list, they must get specific written permission from a senior officer at superintendent level.

"We will now be intelligenceled only with speed cameras," said Paul Monk, of the Metropolitan Police Federation. "There will be no more fishing expeditions for speeders where there is no specific safety problem."

One police insider said: "Cameras dish out tickets to people going slightly over the limit whereas a police officer using his discretion would simply have given them a tickingoff, which is more effective."

The move was welcomed by the RAC Foundation. "Sir John Stevens is taking an enlightened and pragmatic approach to road safety," said executive director Edmund King.

"More effective targeting of cameras and greater concentration on the most dangerous stretches of road should enhance road safety."