SPEEDING motorists could soon find a warning letter from police coming through their letterbox followed by a fine if they fail to change their ways.

Officers will be carrying out speed checks throughout Cowley in a bid to stamp out drivers breaking the speed limit in the area.

City councillor David Henwood, who has been working with police on the initiative, said: "I get people coming to me all the time complaining about people racing through Cowley. It seems like it happens a lot in the early hours of the morning with drivers using the area as a quick way to get into the centre of Oxford."

Mr Henwood will be out will police over the next week armed with a speed gun to capture the licence plates of those going too fast along the suburb's roads.

He said: "It is slightly different than just measuring speed, in that speeding cars will trigger a letter to the car owner's doorstep, reminding them of how fast to drive along roads on which they were caught speeding.

"Repeat offences will escalate the warnings until a fine is triggered."

He added: "It's a three strikes and you're out system. If you don't stop what you are doing after the first two warnings then you get a fine the next time you're caught.

"Hopefully it is a wake up call for people who may not realise how fast they are going as I know sometimes cars that are built to go fast can be deceptive.

"The idea is to change people's habits by making them think about the speed they are going and not just automatically put the foot down."

The spots planned for speed checks are Oxford Road, Garsington Road, Rymers Lane/Cricket road, Littlehay Road and Marsh Road.

Mr Henwood "Those are the places people most often complain about and it will give us a chance to find evidence of whether there is a speeding problem in the areas people think there are.

"We plan to do it more often but if this isn't successful in changing people's attitudes then we may need to look at further traffic calming measures. It is about making sure the safety of all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, is maintained."

Checks were carried out on Wednesday and Thursday, with further speed checks planned for Saturday, November 11 from 8am until 5pm and Sunday, November 12 during the same times.

The councillor invited any members of the public who wanted to be involved in helping police carry out speed checks to email him at dhenwood9@gmail.com

He said: "Hopefully we will get to local residents will engage with this, they have been instrumental in identifying the hotspots and seem to want to get involved so I would be keen to hear from them."