NEARLY 5,000 drivers have been caught by a city speed trap in the past year – making it the seventh most lucrative in Britain.
New figures have revealed that 4,815 people were flashed by the same mobile camera along the A52 Clifton Boulevard – raking in more than £100,000.
The camera – carried in a police van – enforces both directions of the 40mph dual carriageway between the QMC roundabout and Dunkirk flyover.
Taxi driver Mark Limb from Cloud Cars, in Arboretum Street, Nottingham, said the speed trap was well known to drivers who use the route regularly.
He said: "The camera is normally there as you go over the flyover near the slip road for the QMC.
"Considering how busy the road is I am surprised people get the chance to speed. There are normally traffic jams in that area.
"I think it is just money-making because the speed limit changes on top of the flyover from 50mph to 40mph.
"The camera itself has been there for six or seven years and it is well known but I don't think it is needed because it is a dual carriageway and they are usually 60mph anyway."
Insurance company LV= has today released a list showing the top 10 highest earning speed cameras in the UK.
Nottinghamshire Police and Nottingham City Council told LV= they could not say how much cash the Clifton Boulevard camera made.
But the camera below it, in eighth place on the scale and operated by Surrey Police, caught 4,530 drivers and made £126,260. The most lucrative camera, on the M60 operated by Greater Manchester police, made £189,140.
The research showed that overall police across the country handed out almost 400,000 fixed penalty notices for speeding and 73,944 court summons last year, equating to motorists paying £22 million in fines.
This figure excludes those who took a speed awareness course to avoid paying a fine or receiving points.
General secretary Keith Peat, of East Midlands-based Drivers' Union, said: "When you get a high-offender site like this something is wrong with the road – such as the speed limit being incorrect or the layout is wrong.
"The police believe that we are all actually naughty boys and girls but that is not true, you have to look in more detail.
"Not many people go out to purposely break the law but what causes speeding is when the limit is incorrectly set for that road."
Since 2009, one in seven drivers have been caught speeding nationally.
Dave Nichols, spokesman for Brake, the road safety charity, said: "It is shocking to see so many Nottingham drivers taking needless, dangerous risks by speeding on the A52.
"Evidence shows that speed cameras are a highly effective way to reduce speeding traffic, which is crucial in making our roads safer and preventing needless tragedies.
"We urge all drivers to stay within the limits, and if you don't speed, you won't get caught or fined."
The Institute of Advanced Motorists believes that due to so many people being caught on the A52 there may be a problem with the road.
Head of driving standards Peter Rodger said: "Speed cameras well used are a good thing but with so many people being caught like this it tells us there is a problem here.
"Because so many are being caught the camera is not working and something else needs to be done to slow down the traffic.
"Something else should be done whether it is changing the road or something else."
A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said: "There are fixed speed cameras along that stretch of road and because drivers know to expect them, they are effective in keeping speed down.
"This mobile camera is stationed outside of that zone and there are drivers who have gone past the fixed cameras, speed up again in anticipation that they will get away with it, which is why this particular camera has caught so many.
"Speed limits are the legal limit, not a guideline. By breaking the limit, you break the law. We don't want people slowing down to pass the cameras before racing off."
