Speed cameras inaccurate in cold weather?

Motorcyclists caught speeding during the cold snap earlier this year could soon have grounds to appeal, after car driver Andrew Fowler embarked on a landmark case to prove the readings from Gatsos could be wrong in sub-zero temperatures.

Fowler, 48, was clocked doing 41mph in a 30mph zone in Cambridge in February last year, but was sure his speedometer was reading around the 30mph mark.

Fowler, an electrical engineer, claims that cameras can give false readings when the temperature drops below 0°C.

He believes the cameras are calibrated for accuracy between 0°C and 70°C, and at lower temperatures vital circuitry timing slows down, meaning the second flash was more than the half a second gap after the first flash when he passed the camera at -5°C, making it appear he was travelling faster than he was.

He told the Daily Mail: “If it’s so cold, the capacitor on the circuit can’t hold its charge or is damaged, the flash will not go off in time.

 “They have to be right. The Home Office needs to take a fresh look as to whether the Gatsos work.”

Hugh Bladon, co-founder of the Association of British Drivers, said, “If the case succeeds in proving that cameras are suspect below a certain temperature, the flood gates will open.”