Motorist Clive Hague risked thousands of pounds on a legal battle which proved an enforcement officer breached strict rules designed to ensure speed guns are accurate.

Mr Hague, aged 51, successfully contested his fine after being caught allegedly doing 38mph in a 30mph zone on Langsett Road South, Oughtibridge, in May last year.

The court verdict casts doubt on the 27 other fines issued on the road that day – and the 100,000 fines imposed by South Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership every year, said Mr Hague of Shay House Lane, Stocksbridge.

After the case he said: "There was no way I was going to be stitched up. I knew I was doing 30 because the 'Talivan' is there every day and I always ease up on that bend.

"I couldn't believe it when I got a summons a few days later. I got a bee in my bonnet – I was adamant I was going to fight it.

"I feel relieved it's over but angry because we trust them and most people pay up without question. Now what are we to think?"

But South Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership is sticking to its guns, insisting the device was re-checked and found to be operating correctly after Mr Hague was zapped.

A spokesman added: "In light of this we see no basis to reconsider any of the offences detected on that day. The ruling does not call into question any other offences and consequently we will be asking the Crown Prosecution Service to consider an appeal against it."

Mr Hague, a self-employed gas fitter, contested the fine at Sheffield Magistrates Court where district judge Sheila Driver ruled he had no case to answer.

His legal team proved newly qualified enforcement officer Shaun Greenwood failed to test distance readings on his laser gun before and after his two-hour stint in Oughtibridge.

And the Crown Prosecution Service was unable to prove distance markers at the Attercliffe depot, which Mr Greenwood used to calibrate his device earlier that day, were officially 10m apart.

In court Mr Greenwood, who had only been with SYSCP for three months, insisted he was following his training. Defending barrister Tom Peterson – hired by Mr Hague at a cost of £1,000 a day – said: "We don't know if the machine was working properly, therefore every individual that day is potentially in the same situation."

The judge said: "It's vital that at the start and finish of a tour the device is checked. In the absence of a distance check I can never be satisfied the readings were accurate."

She ordered costs, estimated at £5,000, to be paid out of public funds. Solicitor Matthew Miller, of motoringlawyers.com who represented Mr Hague, said the verdict sent a message to motorists to challenge fines if they believed they weren't speeding.



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