I HAVE read many views in Your Letters about speed cameras and would like to give my fellow drivers some hope.

First, the police's new 'honest' policy of publishing a list of mobile camera sites for the week ahead made no mention of the speed trap outside Church Cricket Club near my home that week.

However, drivers were back to the camaraderie of the old days as they were flashing lights to warn each other of the trap.

But of more interest was a recent report in a Sunday newspaper which told us about an Internet group called MAD -- Motorists Against Detection. They are established in three southern counties and have to date reportedly destroyed over 700 speed cameras.

Rather than being seen as criminals, the report stated they are hailed by the public as the most popular champion of the people since Robin Hood.

Apparently, they are looking to expand in the rest of the country and the report said there should be no shortage of volunteers or donations. This is simply because no one believes the police when they say speed traps are not a money-making scheme.

Indeed, having read some of the comments by Ian Bell, project manager of the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, in this newspaper, I was left with a definite impression of the police and government acting like the Sheriff of Nottingham -- and we all know what happened to him.

The public don't believe you, Mr Bell. Statistics are used as an excuse for the easy attack on the motorist while drug dealers and violent people go free. But catching them would need resources and would not boost funds or crime statistics as much, would they?

DEREK POWER, Aspen Fold, Oswaldtwistle.