CRITICS claim that speed cameras are failing after new figures showed more people are speeding in Lancashire than last year.

According to new figures the amount raised in fines in the county rose from to £3.532m to £3.773m last year - an increase of seven per cent.

Lancashire was the sixth highest county in England and Wales for the number of tickets handed out to motorists.

The amount issued rose by six per cent to 119,211.

Collection rate for fines fell from 68 per cent to 65 per cent - making Lancashire's the third worst record in England and Wales.

There were wide variations county by county in the number of penalties issued and the amount collected, said the Philip's Road Atlas company, which published the figures.

While some counties claimed 100 per cent success converting speeding tickets into fixed £60 fines, success rates for some were much lower, with Surrey only managing a figure of 47 per cent.

Conservative MP for Ribble Valley, Nigel Evans, said the speed cameras were just "cash machines" for the Government.

He said: "It is an alternative means of taxation. Speed cameras are allowing the motorists to carry on and pay the consequences, sometimes sadly with their lives.

"The speed camera policy has been proven not work.

"The policy of littering the country with speed cameras does not work.

"Other traffic calming measures need to be looked at.

"In my constituency on the A59 between Sabden and Clitheroe we have been calling for the installation of a roundabout yet all they do is stop right turns."

However, bosses continued to back the cameras.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "We don't want drivers' money - we want them to slow down. Independent research has conclusively proved that cameras save lives, with around 1,745 fewer people killed or seriously injured each year at camera sites.

"A gap between the number of prosecution notices and fixed penalties issued does not mean large numbers of drivers are escaping punishment. Some drivers are offered a speed awareness course instead, have their cases heard in court or advise the police that someone else was driving."

The figures were obtained from the Department for Transport by speed camera expert Stephen Mesquita.

He said: "Don't be fooled by the good news. There may have been fewer tickets issued and fewer £60 fixed penalty notices sent out, but the safety camera partnerships still got more money out of motorists in 2005/06.

"At Philip's, we find the regional inconsistencies very disturbing - they undermine the credibility of the scheme."

These are the highest and lowest amounts of money raised by speed camera fines per resident in 2005/06.

The highest: North Wales GBP5.82 Bedfordshire GBP5.20 NorthamptonshireGBP4.72 Wiltshire GBP4.61 Warwickshire GBP4.39 The lowest: Merseyside GBP0.80 West Midlands GBP1.11 London GBP1.26 Surrey GBP1.33 Greater ManchesterGBP1.39