APPARENTLY, the police-council quango behind Lancashire's speed camera overkill considers it is the victim of negative publicity.

As a result, it is considering employing a marketing team - spin doctors, in other words - to counter the flood of complaints, arguing that most come from people narked at being caught and fined as a result of the escalating web of spy cameras.

Allow, then, someone with a totally unblemished motoring record of nearly 40 years - yours truly - to make a point devoid of pique.

If this pious anti-speeding partnership has set itself the target of raising between £18m and £20m in speeding fines before the end of 2004, how can it pretend to be interested in reducing speeding?

Simple logic says the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, the body behind this sanctimonious purge, must actually want and require 333,000 drivers to break the speed laws and land £60 fixed-penalty fines.

Feet down on the accelerators, folks, to make the roads safer! What hypocrisy!