Speed camera was illegal

HUNDREDS of drivers caught in a speed trap on a dual-carriageway in Moselle could reclaim fines and licence points after a lawyer spotted the 90kph limit was illegal.

Although there are signs for a 90kph limit on the RN52 no decree enforcing it was ever passed at the prefecture - so the normal 110kph speed limit stays in force.

A lawyer defending a driver who had been flashed by a speed camera at a more than 50kph over the limit spotted the error when he asked the roads authority for the original decree. No one could find it.

The dual-carriageway between Vitry-sur-Orne and Fameck was opened in 2004 and Thionville lawyer Me Marc Baerthelé said that over eight years "hundreds of drivers have lost too many points here, even their licences. It's a scandal."

This week the prefecture ordered 90kph signs covered over until the decree could be issued properly - and this was done yesterday. It is preparing to be inundated with drivers asking for fines and lost points to be returned.
Photo: Simon Coste - Fotolia.com