MORE than a dozen motorists were caught speeding through a village in just 40 minutes.

Police conducted speed checks in the village of Tarring Neville, near Lewes, as part of Operation Downsway.

Officers caught a total of 15 drivers exceeding 36mph in a 40-minute time period.

A Lewes Police spokesman said urged the public to take care on the roads after their Neighbourhood Policing Team conducted the speed checks on Tuesday, May 17.

“In less than 40 minutes, we had 15 cars going more than 36mph,” the spokesman said.

“Those vehicles should be expecting a present through their post.

“Speed is one of our Fatal5 priorities.”

At the start of April, Sussex Police launched Operation Downsway in an attempt to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured and to target antisocial and dangerous motorists.

Using a variety of tactics including the latest technology in automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and drones, Sussex Police aims to reduce the fatal five factors.

In the first two weekends of April, Roads Policing Unit officers responded and completed 108 traffic offence reports or conditional fixed penalty notices.

Eight arrests were made and a further 19 motorists were reported for summons.

Meanwhile, officers also issued 20 warnings for antisocial driving, while five vehicles were seized for either insurance or licence offences.

At the time, Superintendent James Collis added: “We know that the fatal five offences are the main factors that cause serious road traffic collisions.

“Which is why we simply will not tolerate the small minority of people who drive or ride anti-socially through the county, putting the safety of others at risk and therefore have a comprehensive plan to target those who do so.”

Earlier this month, a total of 11 motorists were caught speeding through the village of Glynde in just 45 minutes.

This included two drivers who were caught driving above 40mph.

A Lewes Police spokesman urged the public to take care on the roads.

“Please slow down and drive carefully,” he said.