SPEED watch volunteers caught 3,000 drivers flouting the legal limit and were subjected to “frequent” abuse throughout the year.

Retired police officer Mick Carter, co-ordinator of Frinton and Walton Speedwatch Group, said his team face frightening examples of road rage on a near daily basis.

Since May, the volunteers have snared around 300 to 400 speeders per month.

But Mr Carter anticipates an even busier 2019 and says he is prepared to stand up to aggressive drivers.

“Both the police and Speedwatch will be far more active in the coming year,” he said.

“We receive all sorts of abuse from some motorists and I would like those that engage in this cowardly behaviour to now be aware that we are not going to put up with it.”

Mr Carter cited the example of Gary Menzies, 38, who appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court following a confrontation with volunteers in Kirby Road, Walton, in November.

In a report to a meeting of Frinton and Walton Town Council, Mr Carter said: “He decided to have a shouting match with us, and in the end tried to aim a blow at me.

“I think he thought differently of it, because he decided not to punch me in the stomach, but to try and knock the clipboard out of my hand.

“Well I’m not going to put up with that, so I reported it to the police.”

Mr Carter said PCSOs are benefitting from the use of a more advanced camera, a Trucam, to ensure enforcement action is taken.

He said: “People have now been receiving fines and have had to attend the safer driving courses.

“They will also receive three points on their license and their insurance goes up by about £70 for every endorsement.

“This we think is probably having an effect, because just lately the number of vehicles really speeding has dropped, and the levels are coming down.”

He added: “I am a retired London detective sergeant and used to this behaviour, but I still find this very upsetting.

“Over the years I have dealt with several crash deaths, including one years ago when I picked my neighbour’s eight year old son out of the road.

“He had been knocked down and killed.

“Speed kills, but there is this hardcore of drivers who think ‘to Hell with the consequences’.”

Sentenced for threatening behaviour 

Road rage driver Gary Menzies, of Butchers Lane, Walton, admitted using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on November 27.

The incident unfolded on May 1 this year, at Kirby Road, in Walton.

Menzies was ordered to pay a £307 fine and a victim surcharge of £30. 

Magistrates also ordered him to pay the prosecution costs of £85.