Speed camera boss banned for doing 102mph
BRITAIN’S speed camera boss was banned from driving yesterday – for speeding at more than 100mph.
Serco chief executive Tom Riall – whose company maintains the yellow Gatso roadside cameras – admitted exceeding 100mph on a 70mph dual carriageway. He was caught by a police patrol car.
Riall, 49, was banned for six months after having six points added to his licence.
Magistrates at Sudbury, Suffolk, were told he had two previous motoring convictions, including a speeding offence.
Riall, of Ufton Nervet, near Reading, Berks, claimed a driving ban would cause him “exceptional hardship”. He would need to employ drivers at a cost of about £30,000 to take him to business meetings, he said.
Last night anti-speed camera campaigner Captain Gatso, of Motorists Against Detection, called for Riall to be sacked.
He said: “Motorists will be clapping their hands. He has got a taste of his own medicine.
“He is making £150,000 a year from his ill-gotten gains and living off our misfortune. Surely being caught speeding like this is a case of gross misconduct. He has to be up for the sack.”
Hugh Bladon, of the Association of British Drivers, yesterday said: “He has been hoisted by his own petard.
“He is making a good living out of making the lives of drivers a misery. Now he knows what the rest of us feel like.”
As head of Serco’s Civil Government division, Riall is responsible for installing and maintaining the cameras.
Last year he supported the Safe Drive Stay Alive campaign by saying: “In courts and prisons we see the direct consequences of reckless and dangerous driving every single day. For far too many young people it ends with a prison sentence – but for the families left behind the pain lasts much longer.”
Riall was clocked at 102.92mph in a blue Volvo on the eastbound section of the A14 just before 1pm on January 4.
He told magistrates he would like to “formally apologise” adding: “You will be aware this has already caused me considerable personal embarrassment and also for my company.”
He said: “Of course, while I have had a number of fixed-penalty notices this is the first time I have exceeded the speed limit to this degree.”
Riall was also fined £300 and ordered to pay £46 towards prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £15.
