PARISH councillors are calling for more action to be taken against speeding motorists in Middleton St George.

At a recent meeting of the Parish Council, it was revealed that tens of thousands of cars had been clocked breaking the 30mph limit through the village in March.

They were caught by speed monitoring equipment bought and operated by the parish council, not by the police, so legal action cannot be taken against them.

Numbers as high as 22 per cent and 44 per cent of cars were breaking the limit on certain roads and one car was clocked travelling at 60mph on a 30mph road out of the village.

This prompted the parish council to agree to ask Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg whether he would fund more road safety equipment in the village and to request police action.

There were also suggestions that the village could raise funds to buy more of their own equipment as long as a trained police officer could be provided to use it.

Parish Council chair Doris Jones said: “We are putting our money where our mouth is, saying ‘we have got a problem here, we have purchased the equipment to prove to you that we have got a problem, so now what are you going to do (about it)?’”