A week-long clampdown on drivers who fail to wear their seatbelts caught 300 offenders.

The initiative included police operations in Banbury, Bicester, Kidlington, Abingdon and Oxford — and there are more ad-hoc spot checks planned for this weekend.

Insp Paul Winks, head of roads policing in the county, said: "This has been part of a wider operation by Tispol, an association of road safety police officers throughout Europe.

"In Europe, 45,000 people die on the roads each year and not wearing a seatbelt is one of the six big killers.

"There are 150 fatalities in the Thames Valley every year and about 20 per cent, or 30 to 40 people, could have been prevented by wearing a seatbelt."

Pc Mark Pilling, the road safety constable for Oxfordshire, said: "I have noticed an increase in the number of people wearing seatbelts compared to when I started a couple of years ago.

"However, we are still seeing an unacceptable number of people not wearing them.

“You get all sorts of excuses and some people who just hold their hands up.

"Some van drivers say they will always put their seatbelts on when driving their car at home, but don't bother at work and there's no logic to that."

Drivers caught without a seatbelt were fined £30, with 34 people agreeing to have their fines cancelled in return for attending a driver awareness course in Oxford.