22 cameras switched off

Twenty-two London speed cameras cannot be used for enforcement because they are missing road markings needed to secure convictions.

Transport for London (TfL) finally released the figure six weeks after being asked for it.

MCN revealed how many camera sites in the capital are not in use because they are missing road markings or their lenses have become obscured by trees.

White lines in the road are needed to provide secondary evidence in addition to a radar speed measurement. They allow a vehicle’s speed to be verified using two photographs taken moments apart.  Both types of evidence are required for a court conviction. 

One site, on the southbound A1 Barnet bypass, was missing markings for over a year. 

A TfL spokesman said: “The white lines are now back in place but their absence was clearly unacceptable and we have asked our contractor to urgently establish exactly how this happened. We have also asked the Metropolitan Police whether they had installed film in the camera during the time that the marking was not present and they have confirmed it was not.”

Previously TfL has said that none of 646 camera sites across London has been decommissioned.