Speed camera vans in North Yorkshire have been described as “the single greatest underachievement of income” for the county’s police force.
The Press website in Yorkshire says accounts for 2017/18 have revealed that road safety cameras brought in millions of pounds LESS than the force and the Police and Crime Commissioner expected.
Although the force does not receive revenue from fines, it does from speed awareness courses but in 2015/16, the force received just over £1.8 million from the courses, and based later budgets on a similar or higher amount, even increasing the number of speed camera vans on the region’s roads.
But the Chief Constable’s draft statement of accounts said, “The recharges made for speed awareness courses were responsible for the greatest single underachievement of income. The recharges generated £2.1 million less income than was forecast.
“This was in part as a result of a delay in the procurement of new vans which resulted in fewer than 12 safety camera vans being deployed until the middle of December. In addition to this the safety camera vans generated course referrals at a slower rate than was forecast and the rate of offences detected per hour has also decreased.”
The Press quotes North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan as saying the “underachievement of income” simply showed the road safety camera vans had worked. “The camera safety vans are on our roads to help make them safer. They have been very effective in doing so, with clear evidence that drivers are slowing down and as a result, fewer people have been on driver awareness courses than was estimated, resulting in less money coming in.
“The success in slowing people down does mean shortfalls in estimated budgets, which were based on figures from previous years, but contrary to popular belief, this has never been about making money. The work that the safety camera vans do is very important, and as they pretty much ‘break even’, it suggests the current numbers are about right. However, this is under constant review, as are the financial impacts.”
