Police in Cambridgeshire launched a week of action against speeding drivers with a special session with the local volunteer Speedwatch team in Brampton.
The first driver through the Speedwatch speed monitor system was recorded travelling at 42mph in the 30mph zone outside Frosts Garden Centre and while PC John Morris, Cambridgeshire casualty reduction officer, demonstrated a speed gun to the Speedwatch team he clocked another driver travelling at 45mph and issued him with a ticket.
PC Morris said: “I was demonstrating how the gun worked and the driver was, unfortunately, going a little bit too quickly.”
Throughout the week Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit (RPU) will work alongside the Speedwatch volunteers in a bid to deter speeding drivers in their communities.
The Speedwatch volunteers use speed detection equipment to measure speed at known hotspots, with drivers found to be exceeding the speed limit receiving an advisory letter.
Drivers who repeatedly speed through target areas will get a visit from the police.
Insp Chris Huggins, from the RPU, said the scheme was part of a wider initiative to reduce speeding and officers would be working with community groups like Speedwatch.
They would also be taking action on the county’s major roads.
Inspector Huggins said: “Volunteer-led community groups such as Speedwatch provide vital information that allows officers to determine where the problem areas are for speeding whilst identifying the most prolific offenders.
“Throughout this planned week of action, officers will be joining community speed-monitoring groups such as Speedwatch to reiterate the significance of the work they do and to remind motorists that community voluntary work is a valued resource for the police.”
Cambridgeshire police and crime commissioner, Jason Ablewhite, said: “I am fully supportive of the enormous contribution Speedwatch volunteers make in keeping our roads safer.
“The role they play in helping to reduce speeding as well as educating inconsiderate drivers to change their behaviour is hugely important. I am pleased to see the number of schemes increasing and would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the scheme.”
Councillor Simon Jordan, a member of the Brampton Speedwatch team and chairman of the parish council, said: “We are working with Cambridgeshire County Council to bring to the village a 20mph speed limit.”
He said the scheme, which applied to roads in the middle off the village rather than the main roads, would come into effect during this financial year.
“A village survey showed 75 per cent of people with it and 25 per cent were not happy,” Mr Jordan said.
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