Slower than the speed of light

Dr Iain Fielden, who lectures at Sheffield Hallam University’s Materials and Engineering Institute, claims the whole science behind the way speed cameras operate is flawed.

And, if he and his wife Vikki win an appeal, they could change the way speeding fines are dished out right across the country.

Mrs Fielden, aged 48, was flashed in July last year as she drove along the A616 at Brockholes in West Yorkshire.

The prosecution claim she was driving too fast - at 36mph in a 30mph zone - and she was convicted at Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court of speeding.

But Dr Fielden, of Shirecliffe Road, says the way speed cameras collect information is unreliable - and could be needlessly convicting thousands of people.

He set out to prove that, because his wife’s car was rounding a bend at the time it was flashed, the information transmitted by the radar would not be the same as if the car was on a straight section of road.

Dr Fielden - who conducted his wife’s defence in court himself - says the magistrates accepted his findings, but convicted his wife anyway after hearing other evidence. The couple now plan to appeal.

Dr Fielden said: “They accepted it in court. But they convicted on the secondary evidence of marks on the road and two photographs.

“That shouldn’t have been presented as the only evidence. Secondary evidence should only be used as back-up to the main evidence, not as the central evidence itself. But she was found guilty anyway.”

Mrs Fielden was fined 100, ordered to pay 200 costs and given three penalty points.