A number of fixed speed cameras are in place

North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds said in the last four years 10,000 tickets were issued to drivers in the Castlereagh area of east Belfast.

But he said only 1,000 were handed out in the west of the city.

The DUP representative has challenged Chief Constable Hugh Orde to explain the situation.

"Obviously the police seem to devote more resources to certain areas than they do others, " he said.

"I'm simply asking for equity and parity, and all areas and all motorists and all roads should be covered equally.

Nigel Dodds claims there is a 'discrepancy' over tickets

"There shouldn't be any question of it being a bit of a lottery - if you happen to live in one area you're more likely to be caught than somewhere else.

"It should be the same for everybody."

His comments follow those from the DUP deputy leader and East Belfast MP, Peter Robinson, on Thursday when he said police were "not behaving in a balanced manner" over speeding penalties.

He said figures given to his party at Westminster showed east Belfast and Castlereagh were being targeted for "police fundraising purposes" through the proceeds of fixed penalty notices for speeding.

He said the total number of such notices issued in east Belfast/Castlereagh in the past three years was 16,337 - 40% of all those issued in the urban region.

But he claimed, only 1,189 fixed penalty notices had been issued in west Belfast during that time - 2.8% of the total.

In a statement, the PSNI pointed out that the biggest cause of fatal road accidents was speeding in the last five years.

'Saving lives'

It said mobile safety cameras were operated along designated routes because of the history of accidents and speeding.

"Of the 16,337 detections quoted for east Belfast, 8,648 of these were detected at the two fixed camera sites on the Upper Newtownards Road and the Saintfield Road," it said.

"Analysis of a fixed speed camera detections shows that it is people travelling through an area that are detected rather than the residents of that area.

"In terms of funds received from fines, these monies go not to the PNSI but are reinvested in the Safety Camera scheme, which is about saving lives.