Cameras 'mean higher car crime'

09 December 2003: Britain tops the car-crime league table in Europe because speed cameras have taken the place of police patrolling the country's road network, according to a claim from the RAC Foundation.

This follows an analysis of crime statistics that shows this situation despite a drop in thefts of vehicles in the UK to be down by 4 per cent and thefts from vehicles down by 10 per cent last year.

The foundation wants revenue from speed cameras should be spent on boosting the number of traffic police and also to be put back into road safety by improving dangerous junctions and other stretches of road.

Car crime costs £3.5 billion to the UK economy and affects 2.5million people a year. Some 30 per cent of European car crime committed in the UK.

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