SAFETY campaigners have hailed a speed camera with a difference - one that hands out smiles instead of fines.

Drivers clocked by the £6,000 speed detector receive a big smile from an electronic board if they are obeying the limit.

Motorists who are travelling too fast get a big frown - and all the indications are that the good humoured detectors are shaming drivers into slowing down.

But the introduction of the Speed Indication Devices (Sid), or Smiley Sids as they have been dubbed, has not been without problems.

Motorists in Redcar "kidnapped" one of the devices, fearing they would get a speeding fine.

Smiley Sid first appeared in the town 18 months ago. Now there are three in operation. They stay for 24 hours before being moved, so that all 550 miles of road in the borough can benefit.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is so pleased with their success they are getting six more to be placed at locations chosen by the council's six area environment committees.

Councillor Eric Empson, spokesman for strategic planning, said: "They were a novelty in the start. The first one got kidnapped because motorists thought he was recording their number plates, but we replaced him at a cost of £3,000."

But the Smiley Sids do not record number plates or issue fixed penalty notices.

"What they do is get a positive reaction from motorists," said Coun Empson.