LESS than half of the fixed speed cameras on Gwent roads are switched on and able to catch offenders, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Data obtained by the Press Association discovered that only eight of the 17 – or 47 per cent – of the cameras in Gwent were in operation.

Gwent Police had the lowest percentage of switched on units from the Welsh forces who responded to the request, coming behind South Wales Police – 52 of the 88 cameras or 59 per cent – and North Wales Police – 23 of the 24 cameras or 96 per cent.

Dyfed-Powys Police were unable to supply data for the request.

A spokesman for Gwent Police said: “Our role is to educate as well as to enforce and we will work collaboratively with our partners with the shared objective of making Gwent roads safer.”

The figures of the FOI only covered the fixed cameras, rather than the mobile units used by police forces and all 45 police forces in the UK were sent the request.

In terms of a nationwide picture, 36 forces responded to the request and only 1,486 of the 2,838 cameras - 52 per cent - were active.

Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: “Many of the empty yellow cases are due to cuts in road safety grants and the fact that digital cameras, although more effective, are very expensive.

“It is also reflective of the fact that proceeds from cameras are no longer allowed to be ring-fenced to be reinvested into yet more cameras as now all the money goes to the Treasury.”

“Drivers who play Russian roulette with fixed-site speed cameras are playing a dangerous game. Our advice is stick to the limits rather than gambling on the yellow boxes.”

Claire Armstrong, the co-founder of lobby group Safe Speed, which campaigns for more traffic police officers rather than speed cameras, said the investigation “proves police forces don’t believe in cameras”.

She said: “Forces are conning the public into thinking cameras are there for road safety because, if they really thought that, every single one of them would be on.

“They are a flawed road safety policy and the only way to truly improve that is with more traffic police officers on the roads.”

She added: “I am glad there are only 52 per cent working – and we’d actually like to see less.”