Motorway Speed Cameras

Lord Scriven Excerpts

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

The noble Lord is subject to the same legislation about driving properly as all the rest of us. The variable speed limit signs are particularly used on busy urban roads to even out the flow of traffic, because stop-start jams, particularly on motorways such as the M25, both create some dangers themselves and, crucially, lower the capacity of the road. My advice to people when the speed limit goes down is to follow it, because that will save them getting into a huge jam.

[Lord Scriven (LD)]

My Lords, what confidence do the Government have in the agency when the software upgrade that led to this issue took place in 2019 yet the Department for Transport was informed only last September, some six years later?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I think the date was October, not September, but we can confirm that. The purpose of the review, which is a serious activity, is to make sure that this does not happen again. In the process, we will discover how long it took to identify, whether that should have been done faster, how it has been handled and what changes are needed to avoid such a thing happening again. The noble Lord is right: we should have confidence in government agencies, and it is important in these matters that people follow the signage and have confidence in the enforcement that goes with it.