Speeding fines triple in South Wales Police area

This speed camera in Cardiff caught 13,624 drivers in six months

The number of drivers fined in court for speeding offences in South Wales has tripled, according to new figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

The force area saw one of the biggest increases in England and Wales with 6,491 fined in 2013, compared to 2,181 three years earlier.

The numbers of Dyfed-Powys and Gwent motorists fined by magistrates doubled.

A speed camera in Cardiff generated more than an estimated £800,000 worth of fines in just six months.

According to road safety partnership GoSafe Wales, the speed camera on the junction of the city's Newport Road and Colchester Avenue caught 13,624 speeding motorists and a further 146 running red lights between January and June.

The camera was installed in 2012, but only went into fully commissioned operation earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the number of drivers fined by the courts in the Gwent Police area has almost doubled in five years to 2,486.

In Dyfed-Powys, the number more than doubled to 2,540.

But in North Wales, the number of motorists fined by magistrates almost halved to 1,744 - although this is the highest number for three years.

In total in Wales, 145,892 notices were sent out in 2013, according to Go Safe Wales' annual report.

A total of 41,596 motorists paid fines and nearly half of these involved drivers ending up on speed awareness courses.

The MoJ figures deal with the cases which end up in court and after an initial fall have risen since 2011.

The 115,000 fined for speeding by magistrates is the highest since 2009.

While London saw the most people fined last year, the figure for the Metropolitan Police area has fallen to 7,736 - its lowest level in five years.

In other force areas, the number of offenders has grown by almost 1,000 in both South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and by close to 2,000 in Staffordshire since 2009.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: "Speeding can have devastating consequences and it's right that drivers should abide by the speed limit.

"These fines were issued at the discretion of the magistrates and show the number of fines issued is in decline across many police force areas."