One speeder ticketed in New Forest crackdown at Matley Wood, between Lyndhurst and Beaulieu, was caught by police in previous campaign

A POLICE crackdown on speeders netted 17 offenders on a New Forest route, including one who received their second ticket during such a scheme.

The latest Operation Mountie session saw officers station themselves at Matley Wood, on the road out of Lyndhurst going towards Beaulieu, for a couple of hours yesterday (Monday) morning.

During that time, they stopped 17 vehicles for exceeding the 40mph limit and issued six tickets to drivers clocked at over 50mph.

One of the six had already been issued with a ticket during a previous Operation Mountie session.

A police Facebook post afterwards said: “Op Mountie is our multi-agency approach to reducing speed and animal deaths across the Forest, and we chose Matley for today's operation because a pony was killed on that road last week.

“Thanks again to our partners at Forestry England, the National Park Authority and the New Forest Roads Awareness team for their help in educating the other drivers we stopped this morning and to PC Read from our CountryWatch team for joining us this morning.

“Special thanks though go all of those drivers who did stick to the speed limit – we really do appreciate it.”

Several of the social networking site’s users took to the comments section to express their frustration at continued speeding on such routes.

One wrote: “I travel on that road twice a day during the week and it's frightening some of the speeds and overtaking I see.

“I was grateful for you being there this morning though. A supermarket delivery van was tailgating me all the way from Beaulieu Road station but the second he saw you, he backed right off!”

Another posted: “[It] makes me really angry that people think they can race across the Forest above the 40mph limit, bad weather conditions, animals on the road, etc.

“What is it going to take to make them realise they're not invincible. I bet the person who got a double ticket isn't a happy bunny, but at least they're still alive.”