UP to one in six drivers caught in speed traps in North Wales escape paying fixed fines, it emerged yesterday. Foreign motorists and cars which prove difficult to trace are among those to escape the £60 penalty. The Daily Post revealed yesterday that about 33,000 motorists have been caught on camera speeding in North Wales between April and August. But on average an estimated 18pc - nearly 6,000 - will escape prosecution. Arrive Alive, the anti-speeding campaign which has nine mobile speed trap vans on key problem roads in North Wales, yesterday explained why so many escape the net. "We have to serve a notice of impending prosecution to a UK address," said spokeswoman Beth Richardson. "Foreign vehicles which have an address outside the UK cannot be served a notice." For someone facing a straightforward fixed fine, the administrative work in trying to recover payment from abroad would also be too costly. But it does not mean foreign drivers escape scott free. If a foreign driver's speeding amounted to reckless or dangerous driving, he could be pulled over by police and face prosecution like anyone else. The only stretch of the A55 - the road most likely to be used by most foreign visitors - where Arrive Alive vans operate is near Penmaenbach. "We have had operations at that location where we targeted foreign vehicles. We have stopped them further down the road and told them they have been caught speeding. "We do not take them to court but we give them a warning and tell them they are endangering lives," said Ms Richardson. Arrive Alive has also had multilingual leaflets printed which set out the police attitude to speeding in North Wales and these have been handed to foreign drivers with their boarding cards at Holy-head ferries. Some speeding vehicles may prove difficult to trace. Arrive Alive works alongside number plate recognition vans which are on the look-out for everything from tax and MOT dodgers to known criminals, including drug dealers and paedophiles. Last year speeding tickets brought in £3.2m in fines in North Wales, money which all goes towards the operation of the scheme. | 
