Nearly 18 months after it stopped catching motorists speeding, a camera on the infamous Haughley Bends of the A14 has been unveiled as one of the most profitable in England.

HAUGHLEY: Nearly 18 months after it stopped catching motorists speeding, a camera on the infamous Haughley Bends of the A14 has been unveiled as one of the most profitable in England.

The camera caught 20,352 speeding drivers over the last four years, raising an estimated �1.2 million for the government..

The camera, which was removed once the new section of the A14 was opened in summer 2008, was named as the third busiest in the country.

The most lucrative cameras were revealed this week following an order from the Information Commissioner.

England's most prolific camera is at the bottom of the M11 in Woodford, London - it caught 38,243 drivers in five years, raising �2.3 million at �60 per ticket.

The revelations have prompted an angry response from anti camera campaigners - but the figures have been disputed by the group which operates cameras in Suffolk.

A spokesman for the group Motorists Against Detection said: “They have always been an exercise in making as much money as possible.

“For these cameras to be raking in all that money year after year shows that the cameras don't work, because if they did there wouldn't be anybody speeding.

“They ought to have a pound sign printed on the side of the boxes because money is what they are about.”

However the cameras at the Haughley Bends were credited with helping to cut the number of serious and fatal accidents at the blackspot dramatically.

Terry Marsh, Manager of the Suffolk Safety Camera Partnership, said: “To say the camera raised over �1 million is wide of the mark.”

Mr. Marsh added: “That stretch of the A14 carried more than 20,000 vehicles per day so 20,000 people caught over four years is actually a very small percentage.

“Speeding fines go straight to the government - not to ourselves, local councils or the police.

“There is no financial incentive for us to catch speeding drivers. Cameras are used to reduce accidents at blackspots and the Haughley camera succeeding in doing this.”