THE number of drivers caught ignoring a crackdown on speeding has more than tripled in two months.

An initiative, launched at the start of April, to cut road casualties in Teesside by getting drivers to slow down, has resulted in 8,689 fixed penalty tickets being issued.

In the first three weeks of the scheme 2,600 notices were handed out, and an extra four police officers were drafted in to handle the flood of offences caught on newly installed cameras.

Since the end of April, 6,000 more notices have been given to those failing to take notice of speed restrictions and wide-spread publicity about the initiative.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "The warnings are out there but whether people are taking notice of them is another matter.

"We don't get to keep all the fines. The money goes to the Crime Reduction Group which aims to reduce road traffic casualties."

The Crime Reduction Group brings police and local authorities together to tackle road accidents.

Neil Ellison, of Stockton Borough Council, said: "The only way we are going to reduce road casualties is slowing people down to the legal speed limit."

The crime group has vowed to continue its fight to get people to drive within the law.