Union City California has had to throw out thousands of red light camera tickets after city officials admitted that the duration of the yellow light was too short.

The AP reports:

Officials discovered last week that the yellow-light duration on all five of the city's camera-enforced intersections was too short, in some cases by more than a second.

Since Union City began using the cameras over the summer, about 3,000 photographs have caught people driving through red lights. Each ticket carries a $351 fine.

Officials learned of the problem after they received complaints from residents, who claimed they were unfairly ticketed. The state Department of Transportation sets the minimum amount of time that a traffic signal must remain yellow before turning red, based on the road's speed limit.