Drivers who challenge speed camera fines will face a new team of expert witnesses dedicated to the task of rebutting spurious arguments put forward by so-called loophole lawyers.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has created the team, called Road Safety Support, to help forces struggling to cope with the rising number of drivers contesting tickets by citing legal technicalities. Thousands of drivers have had tickets cancelled after arguing that police failed to comply with certain aspects of the law when enforcing speed limits.

Many have claimed that cameras have not been properly calibrated to record speed accurately. Others have argued that speed limit signs have been obscured or that mobile cameras have given false readings.

Police often fail to contest such cases and cancel the ticket, either because they lack the resources to prove in court that the claims are false or because they do not want to risk losing the case and establishing a precedent.

Meredydd Hughes, Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and Acpo’s head of roads policing, said: “We are going to demonstrate that spurious cases get a slap. This team will defend the integrity of enforcement equipment and help us win high-profile cases.

“We are saying to drivers who think they can try it on, ‘Come and get us if you think you are hard enough’. We have won every case we have supported.”

Mr Hughes said that the team, which includes Crown Prosecution Service solicitors on secondment, had scored its first major victory in a case in Hull in January.

Darren Fernie, a businessman from Lincoln, had contested a speeding ticket on the ground that a policeman had failed to operate a mobile camera properly.

But the court accepted evidence from one of Acpo’s expert witnesses and Mr Fernie had to pay £9,400 in prosecution costs and a £200 fine. He was given three penalty points.

Mr Hughes said: “I respect competent lawyers who go through the evidence on behalf of their client. My job is to make sure the prosecution case is as robust as the defence.”

He criticised anticamera groups such as Safe Speed and the Association of British Drivers, which encourage drivers to challenge speeding tickets.

“What these groups have done is encourage people to believe that there is something inherently wrong with enforcing the law.”

Paul Smith, founder of Safe Speed, said that Acpo’s team would increase the pressure on drivers to accept penalties.

“The speed enforcement system relies on bluff and bluster and threatening drivers with the risk of having to pay prosecution costs is part of the bluff.”

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