SPEED cameras caught thousands of people in Gwent in the past year, figures obtained by the Argus indicate.

Highways chiefs caught 19,595 motorists on the ten highest-grossing cameras in Gwent, statistics from GoSafe, Wales’ Road Casualty Reduction Partnership show.

This means the cameras could have raised up to £1.9 million for the Treasury in the past year alone.

The most lucrative camera is on the A4042 in Kingsway, Newport, which was named as the second highest grossing in the UK this summer.

The fixed camera notched up £1.4m in speeding fines in the last three years, a Freedom of Information request revealed.

Motorists blasted highways chiefs, saying the yellow boxed camera was a “speed trap”.

New figures obtained by the Argus confirmed the fixed camera at the entrance to Newport city centre was the highest grossing in Gwent, with 5,211 fines issued between January and November.

A camera on the M4 Tolls Plaza at Rogiet came second, with 2,494 fines handed out, followed by the B4237 in Cardiff Road, Newport, which generated 1,440 tickets.

A speed camera in Nelson Road, Ystrad Mynach, came fourth, with 1,308 fines handed out, and a further 1,006 on the A468 Newport Road in Trethomas between January and November.

Motorists receive £100 fines and three penalty points when they are caught by a speeding camera.

But they can escape the penalties by going on an £85 speed awareness course if the speeding is low and they have not completed a similar course in the last three years.

Almost half the motorists – 48 per cent – went on such courses in Wales last year.

Highways chiefs put up the camera on the A4042 after five accidents, including a fatality, in the three years before it became operational in 2002.

GoSafe said collisions fell by around three- quarters when speed cameras went up at accident blackspots.

A spokeswoman said: “Cameras are installed where there is a history of collisions and speeding in agreement with the highway authority and police.”