AVERAGE speed cameras caught more than 80,000 people breaking the speed limit on roads in south Essex over the last four years.

Between 2018 and 2021, 81,402 cars were captured by the cameras, according to new figures obtained by the Echo.

And 273,800 people were caught speeding by all types of speed cameras during the same period.

A breakdown of how many people were caught speeding across south Essex can be seen on a special interactive map on our website.

Almost a quarter of all cars caught by average speed cameras - 19,018 - were caught by one camera on the A282 Truck Road, Dartford-Thurrock Crossing.

Another camera on the same road caught another 10,260 drivers.

The penalty for speeding is a minimum £100 fine and three penalty points, meaning that motorists in south Essex have potentially been out of pocket by more than £2.7million, although that money goes to the Government, rather than the council or Essex Police.

Essex Police use a variety of different types of camera, including average speed cameras, and handheld devices, which is why some roads only recorded a small number of drivers being caught when officers were temporarily in certain locations.

Across the roads that make up Southend seafront, 2,465 people were caught speeding.

Speed restrictions have been hotly debated in Southend in recent months.

James Duddridge, MP for Rochford and Southend East, has long opposed speed cameras. As far back as 2008 he described the 15 cameras in town as “too many”. There are now 43, and he has opposed the introduction of new traffic calming measures.

But fellow Conservative Kevin Buck, the party’s spokesman for highways and transport at Southend Council, said any blame lay with the number of speeding drivers.

He said: “If you don’t want to get caught speeding, then don’t speed.

“The figures are the figures, and it is disappointing that so many people across the UK and along Southend seafront are speeding.

“The area like the seafront, even though we have the average speed cameras, ideally I would like to look at extending them further up until Chalkwell, so that it does manage speeding up there too.”