Two Borders speed cameras attacked by vandals

By ALASTAIR DALTON
Published on 12/03/2013 13:17

TWO more speed cameras in the Borders have been vandalised in the latest round of a “systematic campaign of violence”, police said today.

The attacks on the A68 at the weekend bring the total hit to six since last summer. They were reported at 3:45am on Sunday at Huntford and Camptown - the first ones on the road north of the Border.

The incidents came exactly a month after another camera at Longnewtown was hit, while one at Newtown St Boswells was damaged in December. Others were attacked at Birkenside last September and at Headshaws last July.

Lothian and Borders Safety Camera Partnership said police were treating the incidents as theft, vandalism and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Superintendent Denise Mulvaney, of Lothian and Borders Police, said: “It is extremely disturbing that there appears to be a systemic campaign of violence aimed at safety cameras.

“The method used to attack the cameras is highly dangerous, the people responsible for these actions are putting their own lives at risk as well as the safety of others.

“Anyone who comes into close contact with a camera that has been attacked in this fashion could be electrocuted.

A camera which was attacked at Newtown St Boswells in December has been replaced while camera vans will cover for the other vandaised cameras until they are replaced. All six attacks were on the A68; Longnewton is between Jedburgh and St Boswells, Birkenside is near Earlston, and Headshaw is near Oxton.