SPEED camera vans are trapping Huddersfield motorists by parking out of sight, says a former road traffic cop.

Martin Eaton, 50, worked as a road traffic sergeant in Halifax for seven years.

He has become so fed up of spotting vans parked in hiding spots, he decided to photograph one in Woodhead Road near Lockwood on Monday.

The van was parked behind a wall, a few hundred yards from a fixed camera box which has a speed camera sign on its approach and just yards from a fatal accident site.

A man was killed when his vehicle collided head-on with a bus last month.

Mr Eaton argued the vehicle was not visible as strict guidelines dictate.

"The regulations say that they should be highly visible to motorists, this is obviously not the case here and is no deterrent to speeding," said Mr Eaton, who lives at Lindley.

"They usually have both doors open and it could be a plumbers van."

Although the operators must don bright clothing, they usually remain inside the vans to work the equipment.

"Officers should be outside the vans and doing the job properly," said Mr Eaton.

Continual reliance on automated speed traps means less traffic police going out and educating the public.

Mr Eaton said: "In Halifax they encouraged us to stop motorists and tell them exactly what they were doing wrong."

He said it was little surprise motorists felt the sole purpose of the vans was to raise cash.

"Now they are just sitting in a van clicking them off. Drivers just get a notice of intended prosecution through the post."

Philip Gwynne, of camera operator West Yorkshire Safety Cameras, said: "It's a police van with blue lights on top. We make them as obvious as we can."

The site photographed by Mr Eaton was visible and had been approved by the Chief Constable and Department of Transport.

Speed cameras and vans were self-funding - £5m in speeding fines from the region went to the Exchequer last year.

Education was a major platform in their policies.