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Garage door gadget blinds police speed guns
By John Steele, Crime Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 31/08/2007

A laser transmitter designed to open gates or garage doors automatically also blocks police speed guns, it has emerged.

A businessman with nine points on his driving licence has been convicted of perverting the course of justice after a jury found he used the device - known as the Target LT (Laser Track) 400 - to block detector guns and avoid a further speeding conviction.

John Eady, 61, from Sheffield, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £5,000 at Doncaster Crown Court after he was found guilty earlier this month.

Last night, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, Meredydd Hughes, the head of roads policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said he believed Eady was the first person to be convicted for using such a device.

He added: "Roads policing officers have been briefed on how to detect the devices in action and the appropriate steps to be taken to ensure the successful prosecution of the law-breakers who use them."

Eady's claim that he did not know the device had been fitted to his Range Rover was not accepted by the jury.

The LT400 is said to be the first device of its kind available in Britain and is sold with the warning that it should only be used for the purposes for which it was designed - opening things.

However, sales literature makes clear it interferes with other radar devices, including police speed guns, though it maintains that when it senses a police gun it switches off after five seconds.

One sales page points out that "as well as functioning as an automatic remote control system, the LT400 is also an effective counter-measure against police speed laser guns.

The system will alert you effectively to the presence of police laser and whilst ensuring that no speed reading is obtained.

"Please note that this is not legal in all countries and you should check local laws before use. "

Another page states: "Please be aware that to use it to actively interfere with police laser guns may be deemed an offence."

The device retails from around £290.

Police were alerted on June 6 last year when Eady, who owns a laboratory equipment business, drove through a 40mph zone where a mobile speed check was taking place.

Believing Eady to be speeding, an officer aimed a laser speed gun at the Range Rover but the speed was not registered and the gun instead showed an error message. He was traced to his home and police discovered the device.

There were no similar devices fitted to the door of his garage, which was used for storage. The LT400 can be bought as a car-only device or as one with a home fitting to go on a garage.

Judge Jacqueline Davies told Eady, who had driven more than 140,000 miles in the last four years: "I am satisfied that you took deliberate action in acquiring this equipment with a view to avoiding further points from a laser gun."

Believing Eady to be speeding, an officer aimed a laser speed gun at the Range Rover ...

There were no similar devices fitted to the door of his garage, which was used for storage.

It would certainly have made it very difficult to get a conviction as the user would have reasonable cause to have the device whose primary purpose is to open the garage. I assume that it is actually legal in the UK.

If you are talking about a radio frequency device then there are restrictions. Low power devices operating in a specific frequency range are legal. But the power ratings and operating frequncies are chosen because they are not likely to cause interference with anything else.

Anything outside those parameters would need a transmitting licence, which will not be granted.

If you do use a non approved device you can be in very serious trouble especially if you accidentally transmit on an aviation frequency.

Ofcom officials have power of seizure without warrant of any device they have reasonable grounds to believe has been used to commit an offence. If its fixed to your car, they will take the car.

If you think speed enforcement is draconian, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Lots of useful stuff on the ofcom site.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/ ... tandthelaw

These devices have nothing to do with radar. Whoever wrote the article obviously doesn't know how they work. But then newspapers aren't very good at getting details right.

It's quite a simple thing, when it senses light at the correct wavelength (903 nm I think) it sends a bright signal back again to say "yes, open the door". It just happens this screws with laser speed meters which also use the same wavelength lasers.

At least that's how I remember from reading about them a while ago.

However, this isn't transmitting on any RF frequency and therefore outside the remit of OFCOM; as we are talking about transmission of light