A SPEEDING motorist was caught doing almost 100mph in a 30mph zone in Newport.
Minaugas Indruinas, 32, from Llys-y-Coed, Hengoed, sped down the Kingsway in a BMW on May 5 last year.
But he was caught by a speed camera doing 98mph on the A4042, close to where the road becomes a 20mph zone with speed humps.
PC Jodie Davies told Cwmbran Magistrates’ Court: “I have never known such a speed if I’m honest.”
Appearing wearing a navy coat and jeans, Indruinas admitted speeding.
His girlfriend spoke on his behalf as he is not fluent in English.
She told the court the two of them had a young daughter together and that he relied on his European licence to get to work in Blackwood and take his child to school: “He needs to commute to work.
“We have a little one and she’s going to school.”
Chairman of the bench Gary Shide said: “Because of the speed involved we feel we have no option but to disqualify you from driving.
“If you drive whilst disqualified you will commit a serious offence and you may be sent to prison.”
Indruinas submitted a letter of apology to the court.
He was banned from driving any motor vehicle for four months, ordered to pay a £500 fine, a victim surcharge of £50 and costs of £85.
The Argus previously reported that this speed camera raised more than £1million in only three years.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that the camera caught 23,582 drivers in the last three years, amounting to fines of £1,414,920.
The camera is the second highest-grossing fixed speed camera in Wales and England after one on the M60 near Stockport.
The camera in question is a Gatso, the most common yellow-boxed camera used for catching speeding offenders. It is on a stretch of road where the limit drops to 30mph.
There were five accidents, including a fatality, on the A4042 on the Kingsway, Newport, in the three years before the camera’s installation in 2002.
Highways chiefs caught 19,595 motorists on the ten highest-grossing cameras in Gwent, statistics from GoSafe, Wales’ Road Casualty Reduction Partnership, show.
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