FLEET drivers are being warned against thinking they are safe from prosecution by speed cameras after a landmark court ruling threatened to make the devices practically useless. The warning follows a Scottish test case which ruled that compelling a motorist to say who was driving at the time of an alleged offence would infringe that person's right to a fair trial under The European Convention of Human Rights.

The registered keeper of a vehicle caught by a speed camera is normally sent a letter, demanding to know who was driving at the time of the offence, so the ruling could destroy the system. Currently the decision only affects Scotland, because the convention became part of its law after devolution, but does not affect England and Wales because they will not fully sign up until October.

But the appeal could take much longer than that and even if its decision falls in favour of the motorist, a spokesman for the RAC Foundation said: 'There are speed cameras on the Continent where the convention on human right has been adopted, so there must be a way to continue making them effective.'