Speeding tickets on N25 to Waterford to be revoked

The Gardaí have issued a statement saying speeding tickets issued to motorists passing the static speed camera on the N25 approach road to Waterford City in County Kilkenny, are to be revoked.

A spokesperson for the Gardaí said the process of writing to motorists to inform them that fines and penalty points issued to them for speeding offences on the N25 in that area o Kilkenny began [today] Friday, July 18.

The speeding offences for which fines and tickets are being revoked were detected by the static speed safety camera system between May 30 and June 30.

The Garda spokesperson said 914 speeding fixed charge notices were issued over that period and of those 128 notices were paid and penalty points applied.

The spokesperson said 56 were paid, however the error was identified prior to penalty points being applied, and of the remaining 730 notices that were issued, no payment was made prior to the error being identified, therefore no penalty points were applied.

Following a query on June 30, An Garda Síochána confirmed an error with the offence location on Fixed Charge Notices emanating from the Static Safety Camera located on the N25, in County Kilkenny.

"This error is a result of human error when inputting the offence location onto the processing system," said the Gardaí in their statement.

The error was rectified immediately upon its discovery on June 30, the Static Safety Camera resumed operations with detections from July 4, being valid.

"An Garda Síochána takes full responsibility for this error and have completed a review of all offence locations associated with Static and Average Safety Cameras," said the Garda spokesperson in the statement.

"This error only affected the static camera on the N25."

The spokesperson went on to state: "Additional oversight has been introduced in relation to the verification of offence locations on the FCN processing system prior to the any additional static/average safety cameras going live."

Commenting on the matter, Chief Superintendent of Roads Policing, David Harrington, said: "An Garda Síochána is very conscious of our statutory responsibility for road safety and is committed to delivering a professional policing service to enforcement of speeding via a variety of speed safety cameras. This error is very much regretted. An Garda Síochána continues to work steadfastly with all our partners in Road Safety endeavouring to reduce the human toll of road deaths and serious injuries on our roads."

An Garda Síochána has informed the Departments of Justice and Transport, the Policing & Community Safety Authority, the Road Safety Authority, and the Safety Camera Board of the matter.

In respect of the Fixed Charge Notices, the Gardaí are cancelling any fines and penalty points resulting from the notices. 

"From today, An Garda Síochána is writing to each individual affected and refunds will issue with penalty points removed where necessary," said the spokesperson.

Motorists impacted by this do not need to do anything, they will receive a letter in the post. 

However, if they have further concerns they can ring the FCN Help Desk at 0818 50 60 80.

There were no summons issued relating to non-payment of these fines within the prescribed time.

The N25 has seen 84 people lose their lives over the last 20 years and a recent public meeting, as part of a campaign to have safety measures implemented on the road, attracted a large crowd to the Rhu Glenn in Slieverue. 

Read more about that meeting here