Monday 11th November 2002

'Sniper' takes out Cameras

Norfolk gunman is shooting up speed cameras

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[yertis]

How lucky we are to live in a land where "snipers" shoot Gatsos rather than people...

[hertsbiker]

Impressed. How much longer before they can't afford to repair them?

[Froth]

The cameras themselves are much more of an offence than shooting them could possibly be. Speed cameras are there to steal money from motorists, and the 'sniper' has done us all a favour by ridding the world of these tax machines.



>> Edited by Froth on Saturday 16th November 14:05

[jmorgan]

What happens when he/she gets fed up with cameras?

[Captain Muppet]

jmorgan said: What happens when he/she gets fed up with cameras?

Who'd be a camera repairman now?

[RichB]

Or how long before the insurace companies refuse to insure them When I was growing up in Ealing many kids had air pistols and rifles. The road ssigns were a favourite for taget practice mainlky because you knew from the sound when you had hit one. I've always wondered how long it would be before kids started using Gatsos for target parctice! Good luck to them I say, keeps 'em off the streets!

[Captain Muppet]

RichB said: Or how long before the insurace companies refuse to insure them When I was growing up in Ealing many kids had air pistols and rifles. The road ssigns were a favourite for taget practice mainlky because you knew from the sound when you had hit one. I've always wondered how long it would be before kids started using Gatsos for target parctice! Good luck to them I say, keeps 'em off the streets!

Nope - we pay for them. We pay for the insurance. The insurance premium has no upper limit because they'll just screw more money out of us to pay it. There is no hope.

I wonder what sort of ammo they were using...

[AlexH]

RichB said: Or how long before the insurace companies refuse to insure them When I was growing up in Ealing many kids had air pistols and rifles. The road ssigns were a favourite for taget practice mainlky because you knew from the sound when you had hit one. I've always wondered how long it would be before kids started using Gatsos for target parctice! Good luck to them I say, keeps 'em off the streets!

Thing is, I'm pretty sure an airgun would not have enough power to do enough damage, even if you shoot for the lens, which makes me think what is he using? Love the idea of taking out a Gatso with 12 gauge or even better 7.62

[Dan]

I can't believe the fuzz can't identify the type of weapon, surely it'll be a little hole, a slightly bigger hole, or lots of little holes?. Still it's a good job they banned firearms a few years ago, as now there are no registered law abiding owners

Dan

[RedTeg]

An air rifle would be virtually useless. A 12 guage would have to be close range (drive by shooting style).

If it is a proper rifle at a distance I hope our shooter takes into account what traffic is around at the time. Don't want any unforseen ricochet turning this nasty.

p.s. I ain't a guns expert so if anybody wants to,er, shoot me down (pun indended) then I'd be happy to be put right.

[s_willy]

Nice one, although a rocket propelled grenade would be more effective.

[fish]

The metal casing looks about 5-6mm thick. On that basis a shotgun would need to be a very close range to go through even with no5 or bigger shot. An airrifle with teflon and nickle capped pellets wouldn't go through unless vvclose or a firearm rated gun. .22 rimfire would but again quite close range. What you need is a nice centre fire .25 upwards with non hollowpoint rounds. They would make nice holes, problem would be the remains of the bullet would almost be vaporised and would be hard to identify.

If it was up to me a few GPMG round would deal with it nicely. Bit dangerous though.

[DancingMoose]

There used to be a place just off the A1 in lincolnshire that sold decommisioned army tanks... so maybe when the sniper bloke gets a bit bored we'll see, Vs GATSO

I live in hope....

[plotloss]

An air rifle with a few *ahem* washers *ahem* added could probably get through the lens.

A 12 bore with slugs or something like a .700 Nitro Express would be far more entertaining though!

Matt.

[RodSmith]

What about a crossbow?

[Hazzer]

Just had a look at the damaged Gatso - (its about 5 miles from me)

Looks great! I would say the weapon used is a bearing gun or similar the face is peppered with dents and just one hole in the case!

Viv the Revolution!

Its been done to a camera outside a school in a 30 limit (I agree the camera is in a sensiable place) but it goes to show people are getting well pissed with them now!

Haz

[paulu]

Gustav 66mm will do the job, anyone got any?

[apache]

I notice there isn't any way of contacting these people on their website

[RichB]

plotloss said: An air rifle with a few *ahem* washers *ahem* added could probably get through the lens.

What's that all about then? R...

[Captain Muppet]

From their website:

1/ In support of the national target of 40% reduction in road casualties by 2010 to reduce:
Casualties in the area of safety cameras by 25%
Casualties in the partnership area overall by 14%
Reduce the average speed on the county's roads by 6 mph.

2/ To make the counties roads a safer and more pleasant environment for residents and visitors alike.

so - reduce the average speed of traffic by 6% and make the roads more pleasant. Dunno about you lot but those two aims are mutually exclusive for my journeys.