Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief has said as he called for the 10 per cent buffer zone to be scrapped.

Chief Constable Anthony Bangham also said speed awareness courses were being overused, and believes offenders should get fines and points on their licence instead.

The warning from the roads policing lead for the National Police Chiefs' Council is significant because many chief constables will take their lead from him.

The West Mercia chief’s speech comes after recent figures showed a rise in road deaths, but motoring chiefs warned it may divert drivers’ attention from the road to their speedometers.

He declared “enough is enough” at the Police Federation roads policing conference, according to the Daily Mail, as he argued that police had lost sight of their duty and that speeding drivers were no longer afraid enough of being caught.