A rock singer has claimed his close encounter with a speed camera made him a “local hero”.

In 2010 Bad Seeds frontman Nick Cave smashed his Jaguar car into a camera in Kingsway, Hove, putting it out of action for weeks.

The singer and his two sons walked away from the crash unharmed.

In an interview with a national newspaper, he said: “I became a local hero – I took out the camera along the seafront with my Jag.

"I was the toast of Brighton for about five days.

" Little goths came and prayed at the scene and wrote ‘Nick Cave was here’.”