A PENSIONER who challenged his speeding ticket because speed camera road markings were incorrectly spaced said he did not regret his efforts, despite still having to pay up.

Although Thames Valley Police admitted the lines on a stretch of the A338 were wrongly spaced, Roy Bailey, 78, was still fined £100.

Mr Bailey, challenged his fixed penalty notice after a speed camera caught him driving at 36mph in a 30mph zone on Grove Road, Grove, on November 11.

He went back to the camera, measured the road markings and found they were not evenly spaced, ranging from 56 to 64 inches apart.

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Mr Bailey, a former soldier with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, sent photographs to the police challenging his ticket, and the force agreed they were incorrectly spaced.

But Fixed Penalty Support Unit manager Bryan Pritchard wrote: “Whilst our own measurements of the road marking confirm that they are incorrectly spaced, the primary evidence of the speed is produced by the camera equipment, with the road markings being only a secondary check.

“A secondary check calculation can still be made, using the markings in place, should the matter proceed to court.”

Mr Bailey, who lives in Hungerford, said: “It was worth the effort to make the point, but having failed in my challenge I now have to get on with my life “I’m a senior citizen and I couldn’t run the risk of losing the court case, so I’ve just paid the fine.”

The force did not respond to Mr Bailey’s challenge until after the original deadline had passed, so it gave him an extra 14 days to pay.

The Alliance of British Drivers said that while not all calibration marks were the same around the country, the most common interval for the white lines is 5ft between each minor mark and 25ft between the major marks.

Oxford solicitor Martin Bourne, of Darbys, said speed cameras only need the radar device to measure speed.

He said the lines on the road are there as a back-up check in case someone doubts the accuracy of the radar.

Police spokesman James Williams said secondary checks have “nothing to do with the actual speed calculation”, which is made by the radar device.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Dominic Llewellyn- Jones said the lines would be repainted correctly some time this year, adding: “The county council is asked by Thames Valley Police to paint the lines - the checking of lines and the need for repainting is at their discretion, not the council’s.”