Spy cameras to catch drivers

Motorists flouting the law in Stafford could see their movements monitored by an array of covert cameras, under new plans being considered by the borough council.

Council members are investigating the possibility of using remote CCTV to catch people who drive the wrong way down one-way streets and block box junctions. They are also looking into equipping parking wardens with body-mounted cameras.

But one Conservative councillor said that he was uneasy with the proposals, which he feared were part of a move towards a "surveillance society".

Joint parking committee chairman Bill Simpson insisted that the measures would help to deal with the problem of persistent offenders in the town centre.

"There are still vehicles using the bus lane in Bridge Street," he said.

"And we've got a problem in South Walls.

"We need to investigate whether we can use this there."

Conservative councillor John Francis added: "I've seen people going the wrong way down there.

"It is unfortunate, the number of people going through red lights and filling box junctions. Somebody is going to get killed."

But his party colleague Phillip Jones said: "I'm not quite sure the end justifies the means of covert surveillance.

"It is something that fills me with considerable disquiet. We are moving into a surveillance society and I don't like it."

He added: "Someone who may have made an inadvertent error two weeks ago will receive a fixed penalty notice in the post.

"He or she will have forgotten about it and will have forgotten any reasonable excuse for doing so. There needs to be a degree of reasonableness in enforcement of the legislation.

What I find quite distasteful is the concept of remote automatic surveillance."

And Councillor Eric Cartwright suggested that an improved police presence could remove the need for cameras.

Parking manager Steve Allen said that no concrete plans had yet been drawn up.

"If there is a camera in a position that we can utilise it's something that may be considered in future," he added.

Councillors are also investigating issuing parking wardens with body-mounted CCTV cameras. The move is in part a response to the recent case where a council enforcement officer was assaulted by a member of the public.