Speed cameras on M25 have not worked for 5 years

Speed cameras on M25 have not worked for 5 years

- Cameras tell drivers to reduce speed to 60, 50 or 40mph at certain times

- However they only work on a three-mile section from junction 2 to 3 in Kent

- Cameras were installed without approval that images could be used in court

- Monitoring responsibility has changed hands between police forces

Drivers who break the speed limit on the M25 are in very little danger of being slapped with a fine - because many cameras monitoring the road have allegedly not worked for five years.

The cameras are behind overhead signs telling motorists to reduce their speed to 60, 50 or 40mph at certain times - but officials have failed to switch them on since their installation started in 2009

The only stretch of the 117-mile London Orbital road on which the overhead cameras ­currently work is the 3.2 miles ­between Junctions 2 and 3 in Kent.

Average speed cameras at roadworks also operate.

The bad news is that the digital cameras on the sections between the A3 at junction 10 in Surrey and the M40 at Junction 16 will be working by this summer, the Highways Agency promised.

However, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety's executive director, David Davies, said the fiasco of switched-off cameras was a 'cock-up' that needed to be resolved.

He told the Sunday People: 'It's poor that it's gone on for so long. It's also a waste of money. The National Audit Office should have a look at this

A Highways Agency spokesman told MailOnline: 

'Sections of the M25 where mandatory speed limits are displayed in red rings have continued to work effectively to reduce congestion and smooth traffic flow, and have operated well without fixed camera enforcement.

'We are working with Surrey Police, who are taking responsibility between junctions 10 and 16, to resume enforcement. The speed limits are enforceable by the police and the cameras will be operational by summer 2014.'

Edmund King, president of The AA, added that successive transport secretaries have spoken of changing the speed limits on motorways – which is 'ironic' considering the speed limit is not enforced on sections of the M25.

Laura Woods, from the road safety charity Brake, told MailOnline:

'Speeding kills: the faster you are travelling, the less chance you can stop in time for an emergency, and the more damage you'll do in a crash. 

'Speed cameras are an essential tool for discouraging speeding on motorways, and catching drivers who take this appalling risk.

'It is therefore very concerning that these speed cameras have been left switched off for such a long period, meaning that many drivers who have risked lives by breaking the speed limit will have got away with their dangerous and selfish actions.'

Extracted from ABP Club