Just because you're paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get you!

There's been a lot of publicity recently about the reduction in fixed speed cameras with a number of local authorities deciding that they can't afford to keep them running.

Strangely enough, I don't have a problem with speed cameras, if I have my picture taken it's because I'm actually doing something wrong.

Now, I know all the arguments, if it were a police person then there may be a little discretion, that they encourage breaking at the approach and could cause accidents and that they are a form of taxation but the reality is simple, if you don't speed – you won't get flashed, and – yes, I have been flashed.

I don't even mind average speed cameras, again the argument is that you focus so much on your speed that you pay less attention to the road. Well, tosh and piffle, if you have to pay that much attention to your speed then you can't be much of a driver; I can judge my speed well enough by the sound from my engine.

What is really getting my goat, though, is the rapid expansion of ANPR cameras, that's Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras and that's one on the right. These are smart, they can read your number plate and “talk” to the DVLA in Swansea and Big Brother knows where you are, where you have been and where you end up, and Big Brother is above the law.

How so I hear you ask?

Well, if I set up a video camera to provide a view of people who walk up to my house, I have to ensure that it cannot record people passing by on the pavement – the Data Protection Act tells me so. This could pose a problem if there is an attempt to prosecute the lady who recently dropped a cat in a wheelie bin and was caught on camera from one of the houses on the street – it's highly unlikely that this footage would be admissible in a court of law.

If I have a shop and set up a CCTV system, I have to display a sign advising people that they are being recorded and provide information as to who is recording them and how I can contact them.

If I'm responsible for a shopping centre and deploy CCTV to act as a deterrent and record anti-social behaviour, then I also have to post a sign advising people of this fact, just as if I were a shop keeper.

All of this means that you or I know who is recording us and what we can do if we have a complaint.

But ANPR cameras seem to be above this law. Big Brother can put them where he likes and we have no clue who is surveilling us and what they are doing with the data.

For those of you who say that If I've done nothing wrong then I've got nothing to worry about well, I just don't think HMG need to know where I am and where I've been – it's not necessary and really does impinge on my civil liberties and freedom of movement – in my opinion.

I first noticed it last year [or the year before] when 5 cameras were mounted on a bridge over the Westbound M4 just after the Leigh Delamare services, [between J17 and 18 – Chippenham and Bath]

No drama, they were just installed – no notification as to their purpose or to whom they “reported”

My paranoia ratchet up a level when, one day last year, I left the M4 at J17 for Chippenham and parked in the lay-by just off the junction was a plain white transit type van with the same type of rear “window” as those used by mobile speed camera vans – but it was unmarked. Even the cameras used by the Vehicle Licensing Agency to check for un taxed/insured cars are marked with clear vehicle signage and I thought this was just plain wrong. Everyone heading South on the A350 was being surveilled by person or persons unknown. I was tempted to pull over but two things stopped me. It would have made me late for my appointment and also I was just a little intimidated.

Then, this week, I saw installers fitting cameras around Swindon, recording cars arriving and leaving. They are mounted on the traffic lights controlling the junction with the Great Western Hospital and there are 4 camera, 2 for each direction and 1 per lane. These are not CCTV cameras, they are not traffic light cameras, these are ANPR cameras.

Then, earlier this week, I noticed that the Southbound A350 from M4 J17 [Chippenham] had grown a new mast, just before the golf club, with the same type of camera that I saw being mounted on the traffic lights in Swindon.

This is a creeping malaise that is eroding our freedom and I don't know who's putting up the cameras, who is monitoring the activity, who has access to the data and what is their purpose and I'd like answers to all these questions