The Man Inside the Speed Van Says It’s Not About Catching You. A Police Commissioner Said Otherwise

• The man inside a North Wales speed van says he would rather catch nobody at all — and that the van deters speeding even when it’s empty.
• He also confirmed something most Drivers don’t know: there is no legal requirement for a speed van to be visible.
• But a serving Police and Crime Commissioner had a very different view of what these vans are really for.

Back in 2019, a reporter from North Wales Live spent a day inside a GoSafe camera van on Glascoed Road in St Asaph.

The man behind the lens was Gareth Thomas — a retired North Wales Police officer turned Casualty Reduction Officer, with years of service spent pointing a camera at approaching traffic.

His mission that day was to dispel the myths about mobile speed vans. They exist to educate Drivers rather than punish them, he explained, and a day with no catches at all would mean the job had been done properly.

Then, somewhere in the middle of all that reassurance, he let slip a detail that should make every Motorist sit up: there is no legal requirement for a speed van to be visible at all.

“Legally, We Don’t Have to Be Visible”

That admission came straight from Mr Thomas himself: “Legally, we don’t have to be visible.” He could camouflage himself if he chose to, he said — the vans stay conspicuous only because the operation is meant to be about fairness and prevention rather than catching people out.

He went further still. A parked, empty van, he claimed, would slow traffic all by itself, deterring speeding with nobody inside it.

Which raises an obvious question. If an empty van does the job, why does a trained officer sit in it for a full shift, recording every vehicle that passes — because that’s another detail from that day in St Asaph: the camera records every car, speeding or not.

The official answer is education. Not everyone in policing was convinced.

The Police Commissioner Who Didn’t Buy It

In 2015, the elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Ian Johnston, went public with his verdict on GoSafe — the very partnership Mr Thomas works for.

Scrap it, he suggested, and many members of the public would say “thank God for that”.

Mr Johnston — a former police officer himself — argued the cameras were set up for one purpose, and that road safety would be better served by community schemes issuing warnings instead of fines.

So there’s the choice on offer. The man in the van says it’s education. The man elected to oversee policing in his corner of Wales looked at the same operation and reached for the word “broken”.

You can decide for yourself which version fits the demand for money and points that lands on the doormat.

Don’t miss a story: join the free DriveProtect newsletter — straight-talking updates for British Motorists.

One Van, One Trip, One Driving Ban

Here’s the part that matters for your licence, buried in the small print of that same interview.

Under the operator’s policy at the time, being caught twice within 20 minutes counted as a single offence. But caught several times on the same journey outside that window — past the same van, or a chain of them — and each catch can be a separate offence carrying its own points.

Accept a fixed penalty for each one and a Driver with a previously spotless licence can reach 12 points from a single day’s driving, and with 12 points comes the totting-up disqualification.

One trip, one road, one van doing its “educating” — and a ban on the table before you’ve even opened the first envelope.

When the Envelope Arrives

If a NIP has landed on your doormat — from a mobile van, a fixed camera, or anywhere else — the worst move is assuming the paperwork must be right and the case must be hopeless. Speed limits have to be lawfully signed, equipment properly operated, and notices correctly served, and any one of those can fail.

DriveProtect™ Members don’t have to work any of that out alone. From the moment a NIP arrives, Members get direct access to a specialist Speeding Solicitor who reviews the case and advises them exactly what to respond, for a fraction of the normal cost of legal help.

Got a NIP or points on your licence right now? See how DriveProtect Membership works — a specialist Speeding Solicitor in your corner from £25/month.