Volunteers who clocked thousands of speeders over recent years are urging motorists to watch what they are doing as they begin monitoring a town's divisive 20 mile-per-hour areas.

The Leader has reported many times previously on the work of Buckley's Community Speedwatch team.

The volunteers record speeding motorists, who then receive letters urging them to be better and safer drivers.

When the town's 20-mile-per hour scheme was brought in, the team was asked to refrain from doing their roadside activities in the areas affected; all of the residential areas in the town, Bannel Lane, Padeswood Road South, part of Liverpool Road, Alltami Road and others.

Only the town's arterial roads, such as those between Dobshill and Wylfa, remained as 30 zones and were able to be monitored.

READ MORE: Buckley team clocks more than 1,300 speeders in 2022

But now the team has now been asked by North Wales Police to commence roadside speed checking on the 20mph roads within the Pilot Scheme Area, as of Monday, January 9.

And Cllr Woolley is warning members of the public that official police enforcement is likely to follow.

He said: "We're the benign bunch - it's just a letter that flies with us.

"But where we go, I have no doubt the GoSafe vans will follow and that will mean pounds out of pockets and points on licences, which nobody needs.

"This is not something to be taken lightly - people need to realise those round signs with 20 on them are lawful, proper and enforceable."

Speaking of the town's response to the 20 zones, he added: "There's been a bit of a divide.

READ MORE: Here's how many speeders were clocked by the team in 2021

"People don't mind and are quite happy where they believe it's appropriate; we're talking about the town centre where you have a mix of traffic and people, near schools and older people's estates for example.

"Those are the areas where people really do slow down and intend to slow down.

"But the argument is over things like Padeswood Road South, Liverpool Road, Bannel Lane - where people feel they should remain at 30."

He added contradictory research on the effectiveness of 20 zones available online had also created frustration and divide.

Cllr Woolley added: "There is an invitation now for us to get back to the roadside and there is a real likelihood of people encountering a GoSafe van with all the nasty formal damage that brings.

"Local drivers do need to pay more attention to what is, after all is said and done, now the official speed limit on roads demarcated as 20mph."

A GoSafe spokesman said: "GoSafe enforce in the right place, at the right time, for the right reason to encourage compliance with the speed limit and to reduce the risk of collisions, injuries and fatalities on the roads of Wales.

"GoSafe will be carrying out enforcement in areas where speeding is a concern.

"Before this enforcement begins, we will firstly be working with Community Speed Watch groups, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, and local policing teams, to provide roadside education for drivers who are exceeding the speed limit."