A legal loophole which meant scores of motorist had their speeding penalties revoked has been closed, according to the body responsible for roadside cameras.

An administrative blunder meant the speed limit on the A65 at Rawdon could not legally be enforced.

And it meant the West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership had to track down all the 130 motorists who had been caught by the speed cameras on the affected stretch - from the Conservative club in Rawdon to the Horsforth roundabout.

Last week the partnership stressed that letters had been sent out to all those affected, and they are keen to drive home the point that other motorists do not need to contact them.

The problem came to light when it was discovered that a small section of the A65 had no traffic regulation order attached to it - which in turn meant the 40 mph speed limit was not enforceable.

The anomaly arose because of an oversight which meant that the 40 limit which was imposed in 1993 was not legally enforceable.

Officials from Leeds City Council say they had picked up on the error almost three years ago and had passed that information on to the Casualty Reduction Partnership.

A spokesman for the council said: "After checking our records in March 2005, we discovered there was not a speed limit order for 40mph in place for this stretch of road and informed the Partner-ship.

"We have now approved the making of a 40mph order for this stretch of road and that will be commencing in the very near future, and with full consultation."

But last week the Casualty Reduction Partnership insisted it had not been informed of the oversight until late last year.

Spokesman Philip Gwynne stressed that action had been taken as soon as the partnership was made aware of the problem.

"Just before Christmas it came to light that this speed limit order had never been completed.

"So technically speaking the speed limit could not be legally enforced.

"As soon as we discovered this we shut the cameras down."

Mr Gwynne, who described the oversight as an anomaly' stressed that the Partnership had stopped enforcing the limit as soon as it was made aware of the position.

He said they had written to the 130 affected drivers and had offered to return the fines and remove the penalty points in about 90 of those cases.

A small number of the 130 cases were not proceeded with at the time, and in about 30 cases the Rawdon speeding offences were part of a number of offence, and would not on their own have been responsible for the penalties which drivers received.

But he argued that even though fines were being returned and penalty points were being removed from licences, those drivers had still broken the speed limit.

"They broke the law," he said. "They admitted they broke the speed limit. Neither they nor we knew at the time that this order was not in place, so as far as they are concerned or we are concerned they have broken the law.

"Technically we were not able to enforce it - but that doesn't mean they were not speeding. They were speeding."

He stressed that all those who qualified for a refund had been informed, and anyone who hadn't heard so far did not need to contact the partnership.

He also stressed that the loophole no longer existed and the speed limit was being enforced again.

It had been thought the affected section of road ran through Yeadon, but the council spokes-man confirmed it was a Rawdon stretch which was affected.