ANGRY motorists have called the decision to keep a mobile speed camera unit on the M11 for another week a money making exercise.

But Essex Safety Camera Partnership has hit back at complaints, claiming the mobile camera at the Woodford site is there for safety reasons and not for profit.

The permanent speed camera has been broken since December and is awaiting repair.

Motorist Paul Searle said the police officer stationed with the mobile unit on the M11 was causing huge tailbacks.

He said: "We've all been stuck on the M11 for over half-an-hour. The cars are going past the unit at just 5mph, and then speeding up as they go past it. It's ridiculous.

"The police must have thought they had lost so much money with the camera being broken that they needed to make it up. But the police won't be able to make any money here anyway because the cars are going so slow.

"There must be a knock-on cost for all the lost hours drivers are spending on the road in a traffic jam."

Another driver, who did not want to be named, said: "It took an hour for me to get from the M25 junction to the North Circular Road. All that time the police officer was sitting there for no reason. The traffic is at a snail's pace while he's sitting there, but once it gets past him everyone speeds up. It's madness."

Kelly Fairweather, from the Essex Safety Camera Partnership, said many drivers were aware the camera had been broken for a few weeks and so it was important police monitored the site to prevent accidents.

She said: "Somehow word gets out that a camera is broken, even if we haven't made it public. The unit is there as a deterrant."

Miss Fairweather said that in the four years before the camera was installed in April 2001, there were ten accidents, one of which was serious.

After the camera became operational there were eight accidents, three serious, over the next two-and-a-half years.

She said: "We grade our speed cameras from red to green depending on the severity of the accidents occuring there. Currently the Woodford camera is green, but because the motorway goes from three to two lanes there is still a dangerous risk if people speed.

"Many road users are continuing to disobey and ignore the speed limit signs and the camera. We don't want to detect anyone but deter motorists from speeding."