A Highland MSP has expressed concerns after it emerged that details of mobile speed cameras have not been made public in almost a year.
The Press and Journal revealed earlier this week that the locations of camera vans have not been updated since July last year due to “system difficulties” with new websites.
The information is supposed to be made public online and in the media in advance of enforcement being carried out.
No updates have been available since July last year when the police began to transfer the former north camera partnership into a new North Safety Camera Unit, covering a wider area including the Highlands, the north-east and Tayside.
Douglas Ross MSP, a newly elected Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands described the situation as “worrying”.
He said: “The police have a duty to notify the public where these cameras will be situated and the fact they have not done so for nearly a year now is worrying.
“Many people have concerns about the centralisation of the police and we are seeing similar changes with speed cameras now.
“The fact that this has been allowed to go on for so long unnoticed means you worry about other similar issues might be missed.”
Prominent speed camera campaigner Mike Burns has previously questioned whether the issue could entitle drivers to make a claim to overturn speed tickets because of the apparent breach of guidelines.
A spokesman for the police said drivers would not be entitled to claim grievance “as they would still be committing an offence”.
Camera unit manager Arron Duncan explained that after a comprehensive review of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme (SSCP) led by Transport Scotland, Scotland’s eight safety camera partnerships were merged into three.
He said: “The NSCP, North East Safety Camera Partnership and the Tayside Safety Camera Partnership became the North Safety Camera Unit.”
He said that in 2015-16 financial year, the structure and activities of the separate units had undergone transition “to align itself with the review outcomes”.
He added: “Part of this has involved the media and marketing elements of the programme as referred to within the latest version of the handbook released in May 2015.
“A new website has been under construction as part of this process and will shortly be launched.”
Mr Duncan said that during the process the websites of the previous set-up had remained live, but in many instances were “unable to be updated due to system difficulties”.
