CALLS have been made for tougher policing of Greater Manchester's roads after figures revealed that only half the number of drivers caught by speed cameras received fines.

Department for Transport figures show that just 53 per cent of those caught by speed cameras received fixed penalty notices, with the rest escaping a penalty.

The findings have led to a call for more policing of the roads rather than relying on speed cameras to catch bad drivers.

It is believed the percentage of motorists fined is low in Greater Manchester because some drivers fail to register their vehicles or are cloning number plates.

In Cheshire, 100 per cent of drivers caught by speed camera are fined. The figure is 77 per cent in Lancashire.

Paul Smith, founder of the SafeSpeed road safety campaign, said: "Cameras and computer enforcement of speed fines encourages people not to register their cars properly, so a huge number of vehicles are untraceable.

"There is no alternative to policing the roads if we want them to be safe."

He says there are a large number of unregistered vehicles in Greater Manchester and London, where only 46 per cent of offenders are fined.