Glasgow top council in UK for using ‘spy cameras’ to spot driving infringements

The chances are your driving infringement was caught on CCTV and your luck will have run out if it belongs to a local council which uses the ‘spy cameras’ to impose fines.

The number of councils using CCTV to catch motorists committing traffic offences has risen by 76 per cent since 2012 and drivers have paid more than £182 million in fines as a result.

Topping the league is Glasgow City Council, which has made the most revenue so far this year using CCTV cameras to catch drivers flouting the law – a whopping £4,000,468 - and issued 131,238 penalty charge notices (PCNs).

Infringements include driving in bus lanes, driving through no entry areas, stopping in yellow box junctions, going the wrong way in a one-way street and committing illegal U-turns, all of which have been recorded by CCTV cameras.

Aberdeen City Council has raised more than £2 million from fining drivers through CCTV cameras since 2013, primarily for bus lane infringements, with a total of 75,833 fines.

However, the Granite City’s enforcement through CCTV has been decreasing, from 34,600 PCNs in 2013 to 1200 this year, with revenue from fines falling in the period from just over £1 million to less than £270,000.

There are currently 768 active CCTV cameras across the UK being used by local authorities to spot traffic offences yet more than half of motorists are not aware their driving is being monitored.

New Freedom of Information data obtained by Confused.com reveals that more councils are using the ‘big brother’ cameras to catch motorists committing traffic offences. Findings from the leading price comparison site reveal that, in 2012, 25 councils issued fines to drivers breaking traffic laws compared to 44 councils who did so this year.

So far in 2015, motorists have been fined a staggering £36,802,955, and issued 977,969 PCNs.