Google Street View under fire again

Street View now covers 280,000 miles of Britain's roads

Google's controversial Street View service is in trouble once again, following the nationwide UK rollout of the technology a fortnight ago.

The system lets users of Google Maps switch from the traditional birds-eye view to a 360-degree street level view of towns and cities photographed by Google's car-top cameras. Approximately 210,000 miles of road were added to the service with the latest update.

However, according to widespread reports, the company has been hit by yet more complaints, after its cameras captured the image of murdered teenager Ashleigh Hall standing outside her home just weeks before she died.

The incident raises yet more questions about the service. Hall's face was blurred out as per Google's usual privacy policy, but she was still identifiable and the image has been branded "an invasion of our privacy" by her family.

Google took down the image when notified, but the incident will still be yet another piece of unwanted bad publicity. The firm has also been criticised this week for identifying the entrance to the secret headquarters of the SAS, which has never appeared before on maps for security reasons, according to reports.

Paul Keetch, MP for the area in which the base is located, is reported as branding Google "irresponsible" and possibly aiding terrorists. However, the firm has said that it will not take the images down in this case.

"Google only takes images from public roads and this is no different to what anyone could see travelling down the road themselves, therefore there is no appreciable security risk," read a Google statement.