A retired police traffic officer, Nick Tolliday has joined the Baddesley Council campaign to get police to enforce speed limits vigorously particularly in Rownhams Road, Rownhams Lane and Botley Road.

In a letter to his former employers Mr Tolliday, who retired in 2003 after 30 years service, says that he has written to local MP, Sandra Gidley, and has been in touch with Caroline Flint MP, under secretary at the Home Office, about the "apparent total lack of roads policing in my area.

"I find myself regularly abused by other drivers both visually and verbally for daring to observe the 30mph speed limits and therefore impeding their important progress.

"How strange that before the devolving of speeding enforcement to safety camera partnerships we had radar teams manned by police officers who would often be operational in my area. Now there seems to be no speed enforcement at all and indeed the sight of a police vehicle in North Baddesley is a rare event."

Mr Tolliday urges that "flexible mobile speed enforcement needs to begin locally and soon."

Police Sgt A Waller, replying to Mr Tolliday, said he is pleased that he recognises that police resources are limited and very often over stretched. Police are concentrating on roads with the worst accident records. Roads where motorists speed in North Baddesley "are not casualty sites on which our focus falls."

Writing to Baddesley Parish Council, Mr Tolliday says that "considerable efforts have been applied by you and residents of Rownhams Lane to petition the local authority about unacceptable traffic speeds.

Mr Tolliday says he is extremely angry at the dismissive attitude of the reply he has received from his former employers.

Chairman Alan Dowden says that Hampshire County Council, which had received a petition calling for action on speed enforcement in the area, has asked for details of the accident record. Cllr Dowden says that his council has received no reply to their letters to the Chief Constable so they had written another strong letter.

Walls and fences were knocked over by motorists in Rownhams Road and Rownhams Lane recently by motorists, presumably going too fast.

Cllr Dowden says he has been told by local residents that people in luminous jackets have been seen in the Rownhams Road area recently. "Who is going to speed seeing these people," he asks, and wonders if he is now going to be told that there is no evidence for speeding in the area.