MORE than 1,200 drivers were caught out speeding in just three weeks by a single mobile speed camera.

Drivers have been fined a total of £72,000 – seven times the Lancashire speed camera’s revenue in a year.

The device, which was removed on Tuesday, was set up in a lay-by on the 70mph A56 Accrington bypass linking Haslingden with Huncoat and Hapton to enforce a 50mph limit during road works.

Drivers caught breaking the limits received a £60 fine and three penalty points.

The £2.8M project on the A56 "highway in the sky", which began in March, will provide a new quieter road surface, which will also reduce spray from passing vehicles, and the installation of the state-of-the-art lighting systems.

The Highways Agency will also use the opportunity to carry out upgrading of safety barriers and fencing.

Linda Sanderson, from the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, defended the camera.

She said: "The road works have been commissioned by the Highways Agency for works over a 13 week period.

"After undertaking a risk assessment there was a period of four weeks where there would be no central reservation, and that is why the camera enforcement was put in place.

"The camera was removed on Tuesday because the central reservation is in place, but the 50mph restriction remains. The camera recorded speeds of up to 94mph in a 50mph area.

"The mobile speed cameras were there to save lives.

"The enforcement needed to be there to restrict speed because there was no other engineering solution."

Around Hyndburn there are 12 fixed speed cameras, two mobile cameras and three sites of community concern. These include:

- B6236 Haslingden Road, Oswaldtwistle, Duckworth Hall through the Britannia crossroads

- Blackburn Road, Great Harwood

- A678 Burnley Road, Altham

- Blackburn Old Road, Great Harwood