Vigilantes in Berkshire, England disabled a pair of speed cameras with pink paint on May 8. With the lenses blocked, the automated ticketing machines in Finchampstead could no longer issue citations. Wokingham Borough Council officials vowed to repair the devices so that ticketing could resume as soon as possible, the Wokingham Times reported.

Officials with the Lincolnshire Speed Camera Partnership hold the same urgency about replacing photo enforcement equipment destroyed by members of the general public. In 2010, six speed camera units have been burned and rendered completely unusable. Some of the replacement cameras may use hardened cases designed to withstand fire.

"We are not replacing all sites with digital cameras, but as newer systems such as digital and anti-vandal casings come onto the market our intention is to review how we can best utilize the new technology and save money by denying the criminal element who damage public property," camera partnership spokesman John Siddle told the Grantham Journal.

It is unclear how the threatened replacements would be funded now that Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been replaced by a coalition government led by Conservative Party's David Cameron and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg. Their program for government released earlier this month included a pledge to freeze the existing number of speed cameras.

"We will stop central government funding for new fixed speed cameras and switch to more effective ways of making our roads safer," Cameron and Clegg stated.