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Daily Mail, Tuesday, 13 th September 2005
Police speed guns routinely give false readings which could have led to thousands of wrongful convictions, independent research suggests.
Tests on a hand-held device used by officers at the roadside found that an incorrect reading was given on nearly one in three vehicles travelling at 30mph.
Errors of 20mph were common, with a speed of 53mph recorded for a lorry going at exactly 30mph.
On one occasion, a parked vehicle was clocked at 6mph.
The damning findings brought demands last night that millions of drivers should have fines refunded and penalty points rescinded.
Anti-speed camera campaigner Paul Smith, of the lobby group Safe Speed, said: "These devices are not suitable for gathering legal evidence. They make mistakes and this research proves it."
Researcher Dr Michael Clark tested the US-made LTI 20.20, one of several types of 'laser' speed gun used for spot checks where there is no fixed camera.
The study, carried out for BBC1's Inside Out London, found that if an officer holding a speed gun made the slightest hand movement, readings could be hugely distorted.
Tele-Traffic, importer of the LTI 20.20, insisted yesterday that it was impossible to register a false reading from a moving target.
The Association of Chief Police Officers said the experiment was unfair because the UK-approved version uses different software.
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