Police crack down on speeding drivers in Hucknall but one resident hits out at 'money making exercise' targeting parents on school run

Police have been out in Hucknall and other parts of the Ashfield District today cracking down on speeding and other driving offences as part of Operation Virgo.

Officers from Ashfield's Operation Reacher Team equipped with speed guns based themselves on Waterloo Road and Nottingham Road in Hucknall as well as two locations each in Sutton and Kirkby.

They issued tickets to a total of 12 motorists across the course of the day adding on a social media post: "Remember, speed kills so please keep it down."

However, one Hucknall motorist, Gary Ashworth who fears he may end up with a ticket was not impressed with what he described as "an exercise to extract money from people that could do without having to pay it at the minute."

Mr Ashworth who lives on the Vaughan Estate was enroute to The National Academy on Annesley Road to drop his daughter off from school when he came across the officers.

His frustration stemmed from the fact that it took him roughly 15 minutes to get off his estate on to Waterloo Road. This was due to an increase in the volume of traffic cutting through the estate because of the Papplewick Lane/Moor Road junction being closed due to resurfacing work being carried out.

Speaking to Hucknall Nub News, he said: "It took about 15 minutes just to get to the end of Bernard Avenue to turn right. So as soon as you come out there you have to get up to speed quite quickly. I was maybe pushing 35mph I know that that's breaking the speed limit, I was probably going a little bit fast but just as I came round the corner there was two guys with speed guns pointing down towards me so obviously you slam the brakes on, you swear a bit and know you've been done, hands up, I've been done.

"I get that there's a need to do that, to control speed, what's left a real sour taste in my mouth this morning I'm sure for a lot of people is just the manner in which that was done. It's a stressful part of the day anyway, everyone's trying to get their kids to school, they're trying to get to work on time because of the roadworks.

"The police were aware of this situation, there's going to be a bigger increase of traffic, just the fact that they did that at the time when people were going to school, going to work. I had to go back out the house again at about 8:50 and they were nowhere to be seen so they were purely there at that particular time knowing that people were in a rush trying to get back on track to where they need to be, (and thought) right let's get all these people and let's put some extra money in the pot.

"It just feels as though it was an extracting money exercise pinpointing families, with the cost of living crisis, that's another £100 I'm going to have to find now."

In response to this Inspector Jon Hewitt, district commander for Ashfield, was keen to stress that dangerous driving continues to be an issue that concerns members of the Hucknall community.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, he said: "I set three policing priorities every three months based predominantly on community concerns that are passed to me. When I last ran it, my community survey back in March, so for April to June, one of the biggest things that came up was traffic and dangerous driving.

"Speeding is one of the big ones (driving offences), as soon as you start creeping over 30 the risks of serious injury and deaths increase dramatically specifically around schools so yes, my teams will be out around school times. It's not to target parents, it's to keep children safe and that's why we're there at those times. But also at other times, speed limits are there for a reason and part of our job is to enforce them and keep road users and pedestrians safe.

One of the common misconceptions about speeding fines is that the revenue generated from handing out tickets goes directly back to the force.

Inspector Hewitt was keen to quash this myth: "The police don't get any money back from speeding fines, we enforce the roads, yes part of that is we give tickets out but it doesn't come back to the police.

"To be honest we don't take any joy (in giving out tickets). One of the things we're trying to set up is community speedwatch groups where we would like our community to take the speed guns and then that would be dealt with by education, so letters sent out to people who are speeding to try and educate them. Sometimes if you are a little bit over the speed limit that's what we'll do, we'll give you advice. Ultimately it is the law not to speed and we have to enforce that to keep people safe and that's what we're doing."