A WORRIED policewoman has launched a personal campaign to make traffic slow down as it passes the gates of a school near her home.

PC Julia Clayton, an experienced motorway patrol driver, has become alarmed since moving into a house close to Teesdale Comprehensive School, in Barnard Castle, County Durham.

She has called on Durham County Council to put in traffic calming measures to force drivers to slow down as they enter and leave the town.

PC Clayton said: "I'm doing this as a private citizen as I can see this stretch of road is highly dangerous and that lives are regularly put in danger.

"But I hope that my experience on motorways, dealing with all sorts of traffic situations, will show that I know what I'm talking about."

She is a member of the Lancashire force and spent three years on patrol on the M6 and other motorways before moving to Barnard Castle, while on temporary secondment to a police training unit in Durham.

She said many vehicles exceed the 30mph limit on Prospect Place, which passes the school.

She said in a letter to the council this causes danger for householders driving out of Dickens Road, as well as pupils going to and from school.

She said rumble strips, extra road markings and electronic speed warning signs should be placed on the road, and that police should carry out regular radar checks.

A county council official said that, as a result of her letter, a speed survey would be done in the next few weeks.