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Road safety campaigners have been appalled at the decision to let policeman Stephen Akrill off of a speeding charge after the traffic officer admitted that he drove at 48mph in a 40mph zone in order to pick up a Chinese takeaway.

Previously, PC Akrill had said that he used excessive speed to attend to police business, but honest motorist Paul Wood said that he had seen the policeman's vehicle pulling up to a Chinese restaurant after it had been snapped by the speed camera.

He told the magistrates' court that when he first saw the car being flashed he didn't react since he assumed the traffic officer was on urgent business.

"But as I pulled up at some shops to buy a paper I saw the officer enter a Chinese takeaway. I was only inside the shop a couple of minutes and when I returned to my car I saw the policeman come out of the Chinese," he continued.

"I saw him carrying several bags of what appeared to be takeaway food. I thought that was taking the mickey. I realised he must have ordered the food in advance. It was impossible for it to be prepared in such a short time."

Despite this evidence, district judge John Foster found PC Akrill not guilty, a decision which has sparked outrage from Paul Smith of Safe Speed.

"The hypocrisy is absolutely breathtaking. It's clearly one law for them and another for the rest of us. Cases like this do immeasurable damage to the public-police relationship," he fumed.

He then suggested that speed cameras were causing the most aggravation among motorists, stating: "The real problem here is that the speed camera programme is building enormous resentment by penalising safe driving. Seeing the police 'get away with it' is just rubbing salt in the wound."

Speed cameras are designed to get motorists to slow down in order to avoid causing an accident, but even the safest drivers should ensure that their car insurance is up to date.