THAMES Valley Police said it would fine drivers who break the proposed new 20mph speed limits on Oxford’s roads.

Previously, Chief Constable Sara Thornton said the force would follow national police guidelines not to enforce 20mph zones because they were not statutory speed limits, although it would lobby for a change.

As the Government yesterday launched a major new 10-year road safety strategy to encourage councils to introduce 20mph limits, the Department for Transport said it expected police to enforce them.

DfT spokesman Isabel Field said: “If a police officer saw someone speeding in a 20mph zone we would expect them to deal with it in a way that they would deal with any other speeding offence.”

Police spokesman Rebecca Webber said: “Thames Valley Police has not said it would not enforce the 20mph limit if the limit was being regularly broken.

“If an officer sees someone breaking the 20mph limit and has proof of the speed being travelled, the officer may deal with that driver appropriately, by either education or enforcement.”

Previously, the force said it would obey guidelines to only enforce 20mph speed limits on roads which had been physically engineered to reduce speed.

A decision on whether to go ahead with the 20mph limit in Oxford will be made by Oxfordshire county councillors on Friday.