A DEVICE clocking speeding motorists in a Worcester suburb has received more than a quarter of a million hits in just over one year.

The VAS – Vehicle Activated Signing – is moved between a number of locations in Warndon Villages and alerts drivers who are exceeding the 30 miles-per-hour limit.

But the system has been labelled “unpredictable” by a parish councillor who says the machine is inconsistent.

“If you go at 31 miles-per-hour, sometimes it doesn’t come on,” said Councillor Ray Morris, from Warndon Parish Council. “But I’ve seen it come on at 29mh.

“My real concern is that you can get 30,000 hits a month but you only have to be one mile-per-hour over the limit and you get a hit.

“I think they do a job but they do record hits which aren’t really hits.

“There is serious speeding that goes on in the area, but I believe the majority (of hits) is people doing fractionally over the limit. We bought it on the basis it would alert people but it’s not giving us a true picture. I’d call it unpredictable.” Trevor Pond, the parish warden for Warndon Villages, told the parish council the number of hits is slowly going down.

Since July last year, the VAS has received 294,028 hits – not including this month.

It gets moved around each month and is often on the Villages’ main feeder roads. When it is set-off it flashes ‘30’, not the speed the motorist is travelling. The highest figure was in March this year when almost 40,000 hits were registered when it was on Plantation Drive. Last month it was placed in Dugdale Drive and received 15,012. “It does its job in a lot of cases,” added Coun Morris.

“But I don’t think we should get emotionally carried away with these figures.” The VAS has been placed in Hastings Drive this month.