Motorist vows to challenge speeding fine

A speed camera on Willingdon Road, Eastbourne, has ensnared almost as many drivers as eight others combined in the town over a 16-month period.

Malcolm Joel of Peartree Lane, is refusing to pay his £60 fine, complaining the camera has been installed as a money-maker rather than a deterrent.

He also insists the camera clocked him at a higher speed than he was travelling. He is convinced he was travelling at 33mph, while his speeding ticket has him travelling at 36mph.

“That’s the entrance for people coming into Eastbourne and if they come in and get flashed they’re not going to come back. It’s not a speeding trap, it’s a money trap,” said Mr Joel, who has had three other speeding fines in 55 years of driving.

The Sussex Police camera near the junction with Beverington Road has flashed 973 motorists between the beginning of January last year and April 14 this year. The other eight cameras around town managed just five more between them.

The Willingdon Road camera, which is in place to try and stop people travelling over 30mph, has raised in the region of £58,000 in 16 months.

A spokesperson from Sussex Safer Roads Partnership (SSRP) said the figure was not excessively high.

He said, “The safety camera on Willingdon Road is on a heavily used road at an entrance to Eastbourne – all of the other cameras are within the town on more heavily congested roads where excessive speed is harder to achieve.”

But Mr Joel, who was flashed by the camera in September last year on the way into town to see some friends, remains unconvinced by the explanation.

“I have never contested anything really, but I just think it’s wrong and if people don’t stand up and say what’s right and what’s wrong then people can get away with murder.”

The spokesperson for SSRP added, “Motorists of course have the right to take the matter to court. If the court finds that an offence has been committed, then the court may decide to increase the level of the fine.”