A GROUP of motorists is celebrating after winning a legal battle to overturn their A66 speeding tickets.

District Judge Martin Walker said he had grave concerns about how prosecutors handled the case before ruling that the 11 drivers had no case to answer.

The decision could open the door to appeals by hundreds of other motorists who have already paid a £60 fine and had their licence endorsed with three penalty points.

More than 750 drivers were caught by a speed camera near the Long Newton junction, between Darlington and Middlesbrough, last April.

The alleged offences took place after the speed limit was lowered from 70mph to 50mph during roadworks.

While many of the motorists accepted the speeding ticket, more than 100 said they had done nothing wrong.

Many drivers said the 50mph speed limit sign was placed after the speed camera or was absent, meaning their tickets were invalid.

At Teesside Magistrates’ Court yesterday, the first batch of drivers, whose alleged speeding offences took place on April 7, last year, were tried.

However, after hearing from the only prosecution witness, PC Karl Horowitz, from Cleveland Police safety camera unit, District Judge Walker threw the cases out.

He said: “The test for speeding is the same for murder – the test is that you are sure beyond reasonable doubt.

“I’m absolutely satisfied that no reasonable jury, properly directed, could possibly convict in this case.”

During the case, the district judge expressed concern to Anne Mitchell, prosecuting, that the Crown’s case was in “total disarray”.

The comments came after a prosecution witness failed to turn up and defendants arrived at court without receiving important documents from the prosecution team.

After the hearing, the defendants talked about their delight over the judge’s decision.

Several motorists were critical of Cleveland Crown Prosecution Service for proceeding with the case. Linda Greenwood, 35, a civil servant from Redcar, east Cleveland, said: “It was a total waste of public money.”

Mike Storey, a 41-year-old company director from Darlington, said: “Someone should have stopped it a long time before now.

“There was so many anomalies and so much that was obviously wrong with the prosecution case.”

PC Horowitz told the court he was certain the 50mph speed signs were in place on April 6 and 8, but confirmed that he had not checked on the day in question.

Figures produced in court showed there was only 47 speeding offences in February and 31 in March when the speed limit was 70mph past the junction.

However, this increased to 756 offences when the speed limit was lowered the following month.

Defence solicitors and defendants representing themselves suggested the increase was because motorists were thinking the speed limit was still 70mph because no 50mph signs had been erected.

PC Horowitz admitted there was a “blip” in the figures, however he said it was probably due to drivers not being used to the new limit.

He confirmed that the film in the Gatso speed camera had often run out during the first two weeks of April.

He also admitted that the camera was adjusted to only capture motorists travelling at 60mph or above to allow office staff to keep up with the large number of prosecutions generated by the camera, which has since been removed.

More motorists caught by the speed trap in April last year are due to appear in court next week.

In an ironic twist, several of the motorists returned to their cars after yesterday’s hearing to find they had received parking tickets.