Video footage showed the moment a furious motorist got out of his car and slashed the front tyre of a speed camera van. The incident happened on Sunday, April 9th just before 5pm next to the A4106 near Porthcawl. Images from a CCTV camera in a GoSafe van show a black A200D Mercedes pulling over to the curb on the busy road.
A man, later identified as Charles Richards, is seen getting out of the car, armed with what appears to be a yellow utility knife.
He is dressed in a red and black chequered top and greyish trousers.
He walks towards the police van, where he proceeded to slash one of the vehicle’s front tyres.
Afterwards, he returned to his car and calmly drove off, as if nothing untoward had happened.
A passenger in the black Mercedes appears to be recording the incident on their mobile phone.
A spokesman for road safety partnership GoSafe said: “At approximately 4.45pm on Sunday, April 9, Richards was travelling along the A4106 near Porthcawl when he pulled in front of a GoSafe van and came to a stop.
“He exited his car on the dual carriageway and was seen walking towards the van with what appeared to be a yellow utility knife.
“He slashed the front tyre of the GoSafe van before promptly returning to his car and driving away.”
The 38-year-old, of Attlee Road in Nantyglo, was later arrested and charged with causing criminal damage to a police vehicle.
He was found guilty at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court and ordered to pay a £1,066 fine, £426 victim services surcharge, £85 in prosecution costs, and £43 in compensation.
Porthcawl is a town and community on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, 25 miles west of the capital city, Cardiff and 19 miles southeast of Swansea.
