More than 2,000 drivers were clocked speeding through a town last year, according to shocking figures recorded by volunteers.

Buckley’s community speed watch group, led by Bistre East county councillor Arnold Woolley, recorded more than 2,500 vehicles travelling around various parts of the town throughout 2017.

Figures show the vast majority were caught breaking the speed limit.

More than 2,300 of those vehicles were being driven at least five miles above the speed limit, in 30mph or 40mph zones.

The worst offender was a driver clocked at almost two and a half times the speed limit when driving at 74mph in a 30mph zone.

Cllr Woolley said Nant Mawr Road, outside the Marleyfield residential care home, was one of the worst hotspots for drivers flouting the limit.

Details are forwarded to North Wales Police’s central ticket office, and these figures will be discussed at Buckley Town Council’s meeting on Tuesday.

Cllr Woolley, who previously worked as a police officer, said of the speed watch group: “We’re the friendly people.

“When you run into community speed watch volunteers we give you some leeway. We aren’t so worried if you are doing 32mph in a 30mph zone for example, it’s those who are doing 35mph and above.

“Speeding is a problem. The team went out the other day to a 30mph zone and within an hour they had recorded 57 vehicles.

“Of those, three were doing more than 50mph, and 16 were doing 40mph or above.”

He continued: “This is why we are out there.

“Occasionally we get foul words, or two fingers and keyboard warriors slag us off.

“But we also get friendly waves and people who thank us to say they are concerned about speeding and appreciate what we are doing.

“Because we are wearing high-vis, we tend to be noticeable. We aren’t hiding in hedges trying to catch people out.

“Often people hit the brakes when they see us, but what they possibly don’t know is that the radar guns are capable of picking them up from 300 yards - including when they hit the speed again after passing us.”

Cllr Woolley said 123 individual drivers have cropped up more than once in the group’s records, 40 have been clocked three times, and one has been caught at least four times.

The speed watch volunteers go out in teams of three, one using the radar gun and two others making recordings to ‘double down’ on accuracy.

A total of 753 man hours were devoted to compiling the statistics by the group, which began in 2016, during the course of the year.

Cllr Woolley, a former leader of Flintshire Council, said: “People laugh off the letters we send out because they are fairly gentle, just pointing out that if they’d been caught by Go Safe they would have been fined, and asking them to be a better driver.

“But I was a policeman and I’ve seen what can happen as a result of speeding drivers.

“We have been so fortunate that there have not been any injuries or worse.”

Cllr Woolley said drivers parking on the pavement - forcing people with prams and mobility scooters onto the road - is another issue that he is pursuing.

He is hoping to get police and the council around the table to discuss who should be undertaking enforcement.