Enforcing Motorway speed limits

I heard with interest on the radio this morning that Police were going to start enforcing the national speed limit on the M4 in the Bath area using automatic cameras.

This was supposedly the first time this was to be done outside of road works restrictions, but I beg to differ.

A day or two after New Year 2003, we went for a trip to Jodrell bank. The roads were very quiet & I didn't daudle.

A week later, I received a standard threatening letter telling me I had been caught on camera doing 87 mph in a 70 mph limit. The location was simply listed as M62 Swinton which struck me as odd because the motorway is actually the M60 there. The only cameras I had noticed were in the Manchester Ship Canal area and that was 50 anyway.

If I wanted to progress it further I could do so but the tone of the letter made it clear that it might prejudice my case. Anyway, it was a fair cop, I drive to the road conditions and would have certainly gone faster than 70mph on occasions. It annoyed me though, £60 & 3 points, an otherwise unblemished driving license of 23 years plus blotted.

When I got the license back, to add insult to injury, the endorsement was hand written in biro. Probably by the man in the cat detector van from the Ministry of Housinge...