Lightning' caused speeding ticket error
'Lightning' caused speeding ticket error
Police chiefs have admitted they wrongly issued speeding tickets – because a bolt of lightning affected their computer system.
Lancashire Police have apologised after issuing speeding letters to drivers going under the speed limit.
And officials have blamed the error on a bolt of lightning which struck the office which processes speeding tickets.
This caused a computer glitch which meant drivers were wrongly told they had been caught over the speed limit.
Seven notices of intended prosecution were sent out to drivers who travelled along a Lancashire lane after they were snapped by a mobile camera.
A police spokesman said the error was due to a computer glitch caused by lightning hitting the Central Process Unit in Blackburn.
He said: "Early this month we experienced problems with our computer system relating to the mobile speed camera in Clayton-le-Woods.
"As a result seven notices were wrongly issued, showing a speed limit that was not yet in force." He added: "It appears this happened following a lightning strike at the Central Process Unit.
"This related to the mobile camera situated in Clayton-le-Woods on July 6."
And he added that all tickets wrongly issued by the computer glitch had been cancelled.
Read the full story in Wednesday's Lancashire Evening Post.
19 July 2006
