This page encompasses the area covered by Avon & Somerset Police — including Bristol, Somerset, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire.
 
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The Clifton Suspension Bridge operators want to increase the toll.
Photo courtesy Wikipedia / Adrian Pingstone
 

Here we see (or rather don't see) an Avon & Somerset Talivan which has carefully parked behind a brick wall and trees so as to be completely invisible to approaching traffic. This is on the A370 entering Bristol at the end of the Long Ashton bypass, only 300 metres from the end of the 60mph limit.
Map with location arrowed.
 

An Avon & Somerset Talivan parked in a lay-by on the A4174 heading east on the approach to M32 Junction 1. Map with location arrowed. They've also been seen on the opposite carriageway trapping drivers who've just come off the M32. This dual carriageway has an unnecessarily low 50mph speed limit when it should be NSLA, there clearly being no buildings alongside the road. Of course, were it NSLA, they wouldn't be able to make so much money.
 

Another Talivan displaying a public spirited attitude to parking. Try this anti-social behaviour with your car and see how far you get. Note the complete lack of Police markings, no roof lights of any colour, and deliberately inconspicuous livery.
2008-04-28
M5 Junction 21A
The ABD has proposed a new motorway junction near Weston-super-Mare in order to reduce the problem of traffic queuing to join the M5 in the morning, and leave it in the evening. Weston has become a significant commuter town since the motorway was built and the existing junction 21 cannot cope. The proposal was put to the Road Users' Committee of the Highways Agency but has not yet met with favourable response. The new junction would probably be best placed where the A371 crosses the M5.
Other options include improving the A371/A368/A38 and/or A370 between Weston and Bristol.
In 2002 the ABD proposed a new motorway (the M39) south of Bristol to connect the M4 near Junction 18 to the M5 near Weston.
Meanwhile the problems at J21 have been raised in parliament by the town's MP.
2007-09-29
Partnership Cracking Up
The speed camera partnership is showing signs of cracking up after North Somerset Council cut the amount of money they contribute. The council complained that funds raised from speed camera fines are now creamed off by central government rather than being used for local road safety schemes.

2007-03-17
A358 To Be Dualled?
The Highways agency are consulting the public on a proposed improvement to the road network in the Southwest. The proposal involves upgrading the A358 to dual carriageway. The A358 links the A303 at Illminster to the M5 at Taunton.
Although this proposal is inferior to an upgrade of the A30 through the Blackdown Hills, it all that is on offer and needs your support.

Spy Camera Watches Speed Camera
Resorting to increasingly desperate measures to fight public opposition to speed cameras, a hidden spy camera has been set up to watch a speed camera on the A37 at Pylle, near Shepton Mallet, Somerset, which has been repeatedly vandalized.
Speed Camera Boss, David Gollicker, claimed: "The camera is there to support the public and the public are getting pretty browned off about the cameras that are getting destroyed."
Strange how they keep getting vandalized by the public then isn't it?

Police Attempt to Persecute Good Samaritan Fails
An attempt by Avon & Somerset Police to prosecute lorry driver Charles Glendinning for warning other drivers of a speed trap has fallen flat on its face after the case was thrown out by a court. Lord Justice Scott Baker asked the prosecution to explain the difference between the drivers actions and a speed camera warning sign.
The police failed to provide any evidence that any other driver had seen the warning signal.
The police still fail to understand that taking such petty action serves only to further undermine their credibility with the public.
Trust to Gorge on Tolls
The trust that runs the Clifton Suspension Bridge has applied to Alistair Darling for permission to increase tolls from 30p to 50p. The National Alliance Against Tolls, which believes that the bridge should be funded out of the £50 billion taxes taken from road users, plans to make an objection which they hope will lead to a public inquiry.
Dishonest Partnership Try Another Con
The Avon and Somerset Safety Camera Partnership is trying to bribe 13 drivers into keeping quite about having their points and fines refunded after the partnership carried out an illegal speed trap on the A370 near Flax Bourton. 200 other drivers were also caught but have not come forward to get their illegal prosecutions scrapped. In order to try and keep as much of their illegally taken money as possible the pratnership say they won't refund money to the 13 unless they agree to keep quite and pay their own legal costs!

Alien & Sinister Police
Avon & Somerset Police have taken us another step closer to a police state by deciding to adopt somewhat sinister tactics to catch drink drivers. In a move many would consider more akin with the tactics of the KGB than the great British bobby, officers are going to lurk in country pubs disguised as courting couples, in the hope of catching drunk drivers. A step too far? Tom Utley discusses:
60? 70? Take Your Pick
Confusion reigns over the speed limit on the three lane section of the A303 Ilminster bypass as not even the police or Highways Agency seem to be able to make up their minds what it is.
Thankfully the police have shown an unusual degree of common sense in resetting the speed camera to 70mph after a driver successfully appealed against a conviction.
Pig-headed Police Show Contempt For The Law
Avon & Somerset Police have admitted that a speed limit on the Long Ashton bypass was illegal after a driver proved that 30mph speed limits signs had been put in the wrong place. Yet despite admitting the error and dropping charges against him, the police have arrogantly refused to refund fines and points already taken from other drivers.
"I think they're being particularly bloody-minded."
Retired police officer Peter Lintern
 
 
Clamper makes new enemies
A wheel clamping racketeer in Yeovil has clamped a police patrol car.
Now had this been a speed camera van it would have been funny, but clamping a police patrol car that might be needed to respond to emergencies is far from funny. It is symptomatic of the extent to which clampers consider themselves above the law. Legislation to control the clamping extortion racket has been proposed, but that doesn't go far enough, clampers should be banned as has already happened in Scotland.
(Someone suggested to us that the clamper may have been the victim of a speed camera and was just getting his own back; if true, the police only have themselves to blame).
BBC — Anger after police car clamped
 
 
Misplaced 30 Signs
Using information about 30mph speed limits from this website, a driver has found that 30 signs on the Long Ashton were positioned 200 yards from where they should have been. Guess where the Talivan were snaring drivers?
Hands up all those who smell a rat.
Bristol Evening Post — Speed Ticket Given in Haste
Bristol Evening Post Editorial — We Need Truth on Speeding
 
 
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