A CONTROVERSIAL ‘speed spy’ scheme is to be extended to more communities throughout Dorset.

The Community Speed Watch scheme allows members of the public to record speeding drivers using hand-held cameras supplied by the police.

It has been running in the village of Warmwell for 18 months and the community say it has been a great success.

Villagers in Osmington are now keen to work unpaid as ‘speed spies’ to deter speeding drivers.

The residents hope to be next on the list for the Community Speed Watch scheme run by Dorset Police to record the registration numbers of deviant motorists.

The scheme has been extended to Chideock and police say it could be rolled out across the county.

Speed Watch involves trained volunteers carrying out checks using a police hand-held camera.

Wearing high-visibility jackets, the unpaid ‘speed spies’ stand by the roadside and record the registration number of a speeding car before passing the information on to the police who write a warning letter to the registered keeper.

However, critics say it will be toothless because no prosecutions can be brought as a result of what they record and it could put the volunteers at risk from irate drivers.

Geoff Codd, chairman of the Osmington Society, said: “People zoom through the village far too fast.

“We’ve got two nasty bends, which obviously makes it extremely difficult for people to cross the road because they can’t see vehicles coming.

“PGL children’s holiday centre have huge problems trying to shepherd large groups of children across the road.

“It’s pretty hazardous and if we don’t do it nobody will.”

He added: “It worked in Warmwell, I think it’s a marvellous thing.”

Parish council member Mike Hart, of Osmington, said he asked Dorset Police about a similar scheme three years ago after hearing about the project in Somerset but at the time they ‘were not interested’.

He said: “I’m very pleased to see it’s worked so well in Warmwell and I’m certainly hoping Osmington in next in the pipeline.

“We’re one of only two main roads into Weymouth and when the Ridgeway is closed virtually everything comes through here.

“Vehicles toil up the hill from Weymouth and then drivers seem to put their foot down just as they’re coming into the village.”

Warmwell’s Speed Watch leader Gordon Cooke said the scheme began 18 months ago after a girl had her foot run over by a truck.

Villagers approached the police to see if they could take action and received a positive response from Insp Les Fry.

The team regularly records up to eight cars speeding at more than 35mph through the village each 45-minute session.

Retired Mr Cooke said: “We’ve got sharp bends in the village and heavy traffic so it can be pretty chaotic.

“We usually go out for around 45 minutes and check about 200 vehicles – of which three or four per cent will be going more than 35mph in the 30 zone.

“A lot more travel between 30 and 35mph but we only record those doing 35mph or more.”

Harry Ross-Skinner, chairman of the parish meeting, said the ‘splendid’ scheme was going to spread.

He said: “We’ve noticed that people aren’t speeding so much and the police have been very supportive.

“We just thought people getting run over in the village was too much and we ought to do something about it.”

Inspector Caroline Naughton said: “We have piloted the scheme in Warmwell and we will be piloting the scheme in Chideock in the near future.

“If successful, we hope to implement the scheme in those communities which have raised speeding as an issue.”