MORE than 4,000 motorists have been given tickets after being caught driving too fast by average speed cameras on the A127.

The figures, obtained by the Echo, put to bed long-held suspicions that the cameras do not actually work.

Between April 2011 and March this year, 2,411 drivers were caught flouting the 50mph speed limit, which covers the dual carriageway from Nevendon, at Basildon, to the western boundary of the borough of Southend.

Some 90 per cent of those 2,177 motorists opted to attend a speed awareness course, where they pay to attend a class highlighting the dangers of speeding, instead of paying the £75 fine and receiving points on their licence.

Of the remainder, 234 were issued with a fine or were prosecuted in court.

The figures, from Essex Police, show an increase on the 1,866 caught speeding in the average speed zones between April 2010 and March 2011.

Of those, 658 attended the speed course while 1,208 were fined or prosecuted.

The cameras were put up in 2009, but ever since many motorists have doubted whether they were working.

Initially, problems with cables meant the cameras were not live for several months after installation.

However, motorists’ suspicions were also aroused by a lack of control boxes, which collect roadside data, while others thought the cameras hadn’t even been plugged in.

Drivers also claim the cameras on the Rayleigh Weir stretch appear to be the only ones that display a red glow at night, likely to be caused by an infrared system that is used to catch speeders after dark.

An Essex County Council spokesperson said: “In the first two years after installation there was a 58 per cent reduction in the number of collisions resulting in a person being killed or seriously injured, with no fatal collisions.

“As the highways authority, the County Council is confident these cameras work to deter motorists from driving above the legal speed limit.”

An Essex Police spokesman said: “The best safety cameras are the ones that take no fines at all as they deter drivers from speeding.”

The Echo reported earlier this month that transport chiefs had revealed plans to extend the area covered by average speed cameras to take in the whole south Essex stretch of the A127.

The next wave of devices will cover from the Fortune of War roundabout at Laindon, to the junction with the M25.

The second phase will then cover the stretch in the opposite direction, from the Fortune of War to the A130 junction.