A SUPREME Court judge has upheld the decision to cut speed limits on Spain's motorways to 110 kilometres per hour – a year after the move was scrapped.

Rocketing crude oil prices led the previous national government to the unpopular decision of reducing the limit to 110 from 120 kilometres per hour in order to save money on petrol – despite experts saying cars use the least petrol when cruising at 130 kilometres per hour and it is nose-to-tail traffic jams which require the highest fuel consumption.

The ministry of traffic attached '110' stickers to the signs, costing several million euros – then, when the speed limit went back up to 120 kilometres per hour, found they could not get these off and had to shell out several million more for new ones.

Legal action against the reduced speed limit was taken by the European Automobile Association (AEA).

But the Supreme Court has just rejected their case.

Although the speed limit was put back up to 120 kilometres per hour at the end of June 2011 – having been reduced in March of that year – the president of AEA, Mario Arnaldo, says the group intends to pursue the matter in the Constitutional Court.

This will be on the basis of the move being 'unjustifiable' due to having 'having cost the taxpayer thousands of millions of euros', 'lacking in proper consultations and financial analyses' which 'should have involved all public bodies and private sector industries affected'.