MORE than 100 volunteers and 50 police officers braved the wintery conditions yesterday to carry out roadside speed checks across Wiltshire as part of Operation Harness.

The county’s roads policing unit and neighbourhood policing teams joined the volunteers to help deter drivers from speeding and to educate them on the potential consequences.

Wiltshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson visited several groups, including the speed watch team in Leigh, near Cricklade.

Mr Macpherson said: “Community Speed Watch is about local volunteers driving down speed and driving up safety. They are getting involved with local policing matters and showing that speeding will not be tolerated in their area.

"The teams I met yesterday were enthusiastic and dedicated to their watch scheme and it was great to see them work collaboratively with Wiltshire Police out on the roads.”

Leigh’s speed watch leader Chris Snayding said that it was good to see groups like his being supported by police and to see speeding motorists being stopped by uniformed officers.

He added: “We enjoyed it and we do feel like we’re making a bit of a difference.

“We’ve been at it for over three years so we get don’t always get a huge amount of support.”

The highest speed recorded during the team's history

Corston’s speed watch team was also out during the day of action and recorded a total of 46 vehicles driving above the speed limit.

Corston’s speed watch leader Edelgard Chivers said that Corston has a real problem with speeding, with one driver recorded doing 56mph within the 30mph zone last weekend.

She said: “We had 13 speeding vehicles recorded which is quite quiet in Corston really.

“You get elderly people and people walking their dogs and if you hit someone at that speed then they wouldn’t stand a chance.”

As a result of the operation, 208 vehicles were identified as speeding across the county, 147 vehicles were stopped with 132 drivers given warnings about their speed.

The next training session for community speed watch volunteers will be on February 28. For more information or to ask for a volunteer form email communityspeedwatch@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk