By . Mark Duell . PUBLISHED: . 05:16 EST, 12 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 08:15 EST, 12 January 2014 . It’s Britain’s busiest motorway - and became ‘the world's biggest car park’ thanks to its regular jams. But drivers who break the speed limit on the M25 are in very little danger of being slapped with a fine - because many cameras monitoring the road have allegedly not worked for five years. The cameras are behind overhead signs telling motorists to reduce their speed to 60, 50 or 40mph at certain times - but officials have failed to switch them on since their installation started in 2009. Restrictions: Drivers who break the speed limit on the M25 are in very little danger of being slapped with a fine - because many cameras monitoring the road have allegedly not worked for five years . The cameras only work on a three-mile section of the 117-mile London Orbital road between junction 2 and 3 - just south of the Dartford Crossing in Kent, reported the Sunday People. Problems have plagued the others - with cameras installed without approval that their images could be used as evidence in court, and monitoring responsibility changing hands between police forces. But average speed cameras at roadwork sites operate - and the Highways Agency said cameras on sections between junction 10 in Surrey and 16 in Buckinghamshire will be working by the summer. However, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety’s executive director, David Davies, said the fiasco of switched-off cameras was a ‘cock-up’ that needed to be resolved. He told the Sunday People: ‘It’s poor . that it’s gone on for so long. It’s also a waste of money. The National . Audit Office should have a look at this.’ In detail: average speed cameras at roadwork sites operate - and the Highways Agency said cameras on sections between junction 10 in Surrey and 16 in Buckinghamshire will be working by the summer . A Highways Agency spokesman told . MailOnline: 'Sections of the M25 where mandatory speed limits are . displayed in red rings have continued to work effectively to reduce . congestion and smooth traffic flow, and have operated well without fixed . camera enforcement. 'We are . working with Surrey Police, who are taking responsibility between . junctions 10 and 16, to resume enforcement. The speed limits are . enforceable by the police and the cameras will be operational by summer . 2014.' 'It's poor that it's gone on for so long. It's also a waste of money' David Davies, Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety . Edmund King, president of The AA, added that successive transport secretaries have spoken of changing the speed limits on motorways – which is ‘ironic’ considering the speed limit is not enforced on sections of the M25. Laura Woods, from the road safety charity Brake, told . MailOnline: ‘Speeding kills: the faster you are travelling, the less chance you . can stop in time for an emergency, and the more damage you’ll do in a crash. ‘Speed cameras are an essential tool for discouraging . speeding on motorways, and catching drivers who take this appalling risk. ‘It is therefore very concerning that these speed cameras . have been left switched off for such a long period, meaning that many drivers . who have risked lives by breaking the speed limit will have got away with their . dangerous and selfish actions.’
Cameras tell drivers to reduce speed to 60, 50 or 40mph at certain times .
But they only work on a three-mile section from junction 2 to 3 in Kent .
Cameras installed without approval that images could be used in court .
And monitoring responsibility has changed hands between police forces .
By . Mark Duell . PUBLISHED: . 05:16 EST, 12 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 08:15 EST, 12 January 2014 . It’s Britain’s busiest motorway - and became ‘the world's biggest car park’ thanks to its regular jams. But drivers who break the speed limit on the M25 are in very little danger of being slapped with a fine - because many cameras monitoring the road have allegedly not worked for five years. The cameras are behind overhead signs telling motorists to reduce their speed to 60, 50 or 40mph at certain times - but officials have failed to switch them on since their installation started in 2009. Restrictions: Drivers who break the speed limit on the M25 are in very little danger of being slapped with a fine - because many cameras monitoring the road have allegedly not worked for five years . The cameras only work on a three-mile section of the 117-mile London Orbital road between junction 2 and 3 - just south of the Dartford Crossing in Kent, reported the Sunday People. Problems have plagued the others - with cameras installed without approval that their images could be used as evidence in court, and monitoring responsibility changing hands between police forces. But average speed cameras at roadwork sites operate - and the Highways Agency said cameras on sections between junction 10 in Surrey and 16 in Buckinghamshire will be working by the summer. However, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety’s executive director, David Davies, said the fiasco of switched-off cameras was a ‘cock-up’ that needed to be resolved. He told the Sunday People: ‘It’s poor . that it’s gone on for so long. It’s also a waste of money. The National . Audit Office should have a look at this.’ In detail: average speed cameras at roadwork sites operate - and the Highways Agency said cameras on sections between junction 10 in Surrey and 16 in Buckinghamshire will be working by the summer . A Highways Agency spokesman told . MailOnline: 'Sections of the M25 where mandatory speed limits are . displayed in red rings have continued to work effectively to reduce . congestion and smooth traffic flow, and have operated well without fixed . camera enforcement. 'We are . working with Surrey Police, who are taking responsibility between . junctions 10 and 16, to resume enforcement. The speed limits are . enforceable by the police and the cameras will be operational by summer . 2014.' 'It's poor that it's gone on for so long. It's also a waste of money' David Davies, Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety . Edmund King, president of The AA, added that successive transport secretaries have spoken of changing the speed limits on motorways – which is ‘ironic’ considering the speed limit is not enforced on sections of the M25. Laura Woods, from the road safety charity Brake, told . MailOnline: ‘Speeding kills: the faster you are travelling, the less chance you . can stop in time for an emergency, and the more damage you’ll do in a crash. ‘Speed cameras are an essential tool for discouraging . speeding on motorways, and catching drivers who take this appalling risk. ‘It is therefore very concerning that these speed cameras . have been left switched off for such a long period, meaning that many drivers . who have risked lives by breaking the speed limit will have got away with their . dangerous and selfish actions.’
speed to 60, 50 or 40mph at certain times - but cameras only work on a three-mile section of the without approval that their images could be used as evidence in court, and monitoring responsibility changing hands between police