Police condemned for plan to raise cash through M1 speed camera blitz

Olly Martins, the Police and Crime Commissioner for the county, said the force was short of money because the Government was refusing to increase its grant. The Labour politician told the BBC Today programme: “It’s a choice between doing things like this and reducing the size of the police force.”

He added: “That’s 25 police officers I won’t have to get rid of.”

“It’s the Government that is leaving me with no alternative but measures like these. We’ve been telling them abut the predicament that Bedfordshire police is in for years now and the outcome is that we get a funding formula that says ‘sorry, Bedfordshire, you are going to get exactly the same level of funding you have always got’.”

But Mr McLoughlin said: “Speed cameras are for safety and reducing dangerous driving, not raising cash. They should be located where there is likely to be a risk. This is yet another example of a Labour politician punishing drivers as a first resort.”