AS much as I detest the principle of speed cameras, I was sorry to see a yob has wrecked the one on Hamilton Hill in High Wycombe, causing thousands of pounds of damage.

Apparently, someone placed a rubber tyre over the camera and set it on fire, leaving it inoperable for the moment.

Now, I know for a fact, there will be lots of readers who will be tempted to cheer this act of wanton vandalism, but please resist doing so. This was a criminal act, which could even have led to a fire spreading and causing mayhem and threat to life.

But even if that were not to be the case, it is deplorable that anyone could go to so much effort in the name of destruction, however much they dislike the cameras.

In fact, the one on Hamilton Road was one of the few I believed useful. It was clearly visible, so no one could say they could be trapped by it, and it stopped motorists from whizzing at daft speeds down a steep hill near houses and a school.

Sadly, the authorities must take some of the blame for the hatred of their cameras, because of the zero tolerance war that has been waged on drivers for so many years. The system has been brought into disrepute by the many speed traps around the country that serve just to catch motorists out for making marginal errors rather than make the roads safer.

But some motorists do deserve to be caught out, namely the legions of them who daily still use their phones at the wheel. If spy cameras could be turned to stop this recklessness, then we’d all be the better for it.