Mobile speed camera units were condemned as 'hypocritical'

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said Avon and Somerset Police's Assistant Chief Constable Steve Mortimore had been right to complain about the units using "hypocritical" methods.

In one case, a unit run by the Safety Camera Partnership was seen parked half in a cycle lane and half on the pavement.

Mr King said: "It is obviously irresponsible for the units to park on cycle lanes and pavements just to catch speeding motorists.

'Endangering lives'

"The Partnership should sort out their own behaviour - speeding motorists are not endangering lives in the same way as a vehicle parked in those sorts of places.

"The Government needs to review this whole situation."

Some units were spotted parked on double yellow lines

Earlier this week Mr Mortimore was reported as saying officers who were members of the SCP could not be seen to be breaking the law in order to enforce the law.

Mr Mortimore said: "It's against our way of doing things and it's hypocritical.

"The point is that often speed limits are broken without people having accidents.

"What we have to focus on is where speed is actually causing accidents."

'Surprising comments'

But Dick Bowen, project manager of the Avon and Somerset and Gloucestershire SCP, which runs the units, said complaints about the methods employed by the units had already been dealt with.

He said: "It is true that some of the units had been seen parked on double yellow lines or in bus lanes while officers tried to catch speeding motorists, but we have already withdrawn from using that approach.

"We made the changes in liaison with the police, so the comments were a little surprising."

A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset police, said: "We do not want to fall out with the Partnership over this issue, we just wanted to create a public debate."