£1.5 million cost of speed cameras in region

West Mercia Safer Roads Partnership, which includes the police, Telford & Wrekin Council and Shropshire Council, spent a total of £1,520,369 on operating its network of speed traps during the 2013/14 financial year.

The partnership operates around 60 speed cameras in Shropshire.

The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed that £851,141 was spent on salaries for monitoring the cameras, while £455,382 went on operating and hardware costs.

It was also revealed that last year the cameras raised £3.1 million in fines, although partnership manager Rod Reynolds said all money the money raised went directly to central government.

"No money from fines is retained," he said.

Victoria Bristow, of West Mercia Safer Roads Partnership, added: "The cameras are funded totally by the revenue generated from speed awareness courses.

"That is a very neat way to raise the money as it doesn't cost anything out of general funds," she added.

The majority of the cameras in Shropshire are mobile devices operating out of vans, which have led to claims that their operators have been deliberately hiding in order to snare drivers.

Last year Shropshire Star reader Mark Burrows hit out after photographing a mobile camera van in Holyhead Road, Ketley, Telford.

He claimed it was "unethical" because drivers would not have been able to see the van, obscured behind a bush, until it was too late.

Force guidelines say that vehicles used for mobile enforcement should be clearly marked, and operators should wear high-visibility jackets if standing away from them.

The guidelines also say that, as far as possible, that the operator or vehicle should be visible from at least 65 yards for roads where the limit is 40mph or less, and 109 yards for all other speed limits.

The force added that where possible it sought to locate cameras at least a tenth of a mile within speed limit areas.

A record number of motorists were caught by the cameras last year, with more than 90,000 drivers being hit with fines.

A total of 370,465 vehicles were caught going too fast in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, Herefordshire and Worcestershire from 2009 to 2014.

Nationally, the number of speeding fines issued to motoristshas risen to its highest level for four years thanks to the introduction of a new generation of digital speed cameras.