Cloned plate lets 148mph speeder escape

Police unable to trace A90 driver as highest recorded speeds in Tayside revealed

A driver clocked at almost 150mph on an Angus dual carriageway has dodged the courts because his highperformance car was on cloned registration plates.

Police were unable to trace who was behind the wheel of the Audi S3 Quattro which blasted through a speed camera between Forfar and Brechin at 148mph – a figure which would have been one of the highest to come to court in the county.

The false plates incident at Waterston emerged as part of a freedom of information request which detailed the 20 highest speeds recorded on Tayside roads since the start of this year.

All happened on the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen dual carriageway, but only four were reported to prosecutors.

More than half involved emergency service vehicles which were granted exemption from prosecution, while another driver was also using false plates.

A 127mph speeder also escaped because their registration could only be partially seen.

One motorist caught at 117mph got away with the offence because of what the FOI data described as an “administration error”, while no action will be taken against the driver of a car “bearing foreign plates”.

The speed of the Audi – a 300bhp machine and electronically limited to 155mph – is around 10mph below the 156.7mph which is believed to still be the highest ever recorded offence on the A90 or any Scottish road.

A spokesman for Tayside Safety Camera Partnership said “appropriate inquiry is made” into alleged offences, with attempts made to trace the vehicle’s driver and information passed to community police officers in the relevant area where necessary.

He added: “Obviously trying to detect a vehicle on false or cloned plates is more challenging, but not impossible.

“If the make and model of car is identifiable, this helps considerably and, with the help of our colleagues at DVLA and other agencies, full inquiry can be made.”

Earlier this year Transport Scotland revealed a £2 million plan to install average speed cameras on the trunk road between Dundee and Stonehaven.

A total of 30 cameras will be installed on the 50-mile stretch and are expected to be operational by the autumn.