The cost of reimbursing motorists wrongly penalised for speeding through a Dorset village has topped £1.8million.

More than 24,000 drivers caught speeding through Chideock have had their fines repaid and penalty points reinstated.

The payout was ordered after a Government review of an inadequately-worded traffic regulation order that was supposed to limit drivers to 30mph on the main road through the village.

The review followed a test case, held at Dorchester Crown Court, where Cornish lorry driver Alan Dawe won an appeal against his conviction for ‘speeding’ through Chideock in October, 2008, paving the way for the original traffic order to be officially reviewed.

It was found that the order referred to a 30mph limit for Seatown Road when the correct name should have been Duck Street.

It was ruled that the incorrect wording left the order invalid, meaning anyone convicted for ‘speeding’ through the village prior to 2007 could have their punishment overturned.

After his conviction was quashed Mr Dawe urged other motorists caught speeding on the stretch of road to take a similar stand.

He said: “There is no speed restriction in Chideock and there hasn’t been for 10 years.

“The court made its decision and everybody should claim.”

Dorset Road Safe has revealed that the total cost of reimbursing all the motorists wrongfully convicted was £1,818,288.

It said that 23,108 people were refunded £60 each, a further 950 drivers refunded £40 each.

A total of 201 court cases were reviewed at a cost of £22,827 and the administration costs for processing the entire refund was £370,981.

All project costs were met by the Highways Agency.

A spokesman for the then Dorset Safety Camera Partnership said at the time that it had secured an agreement with the Treasury and the Department of Transport to begin reviewing individual cases with a view to refunding fixed penalty payments and revoking penalty points from drivers’ licences, if they were still valid.

The spokesman said the partnership would also begin reviewing cases in which drivers lost their licences, which in some cases left people unable to continue working and spending hundreds of pounds on other forms of transport.

The spokesman had said that they did not know what the final payout would be as it was expecting that some people wouldn’t claim a refund because they admitted driving in excess of 30mph through a village.

It transpired that 121 people declined a refund while 127 persons donated their £60 refund to charity.