Dutch satnav device maker TomTom has apologised to customers after it emerged that police in its native country used customer data to plan speed camera locations.

The company offers a service entitled HD Traffic, which allows customers to access anonymised traffic data. In an emailed apology to customers, TomTom admitted that the Dutch police had used this service to plan speed camera locations.

"We are now aware that the police have used traffic information that you have helped to create to place speed cameras at dangerous locations where the average speed is higher than the legally allowed speed limit," it said. "We never foresaw this kind of use and many of our clients are not happy about it."

The company says that it had not sold the data directly to the police but to local authorities, believing that it would be used to improve road safety and remove traffic bottlenecks.