DORSET Police have vowed to continue their crackdown on motorists flouting the law after a successful first six months of the dedicated No Excuse team.

A team of dedicated traffic officers was launched in October 2014 and since then, 3,336 penalty tickets and Driver Awareness Scheme (DAS) courses have been issued to drivers.

And 116 vehicles have been seized.

Six officers and eight special constables have been assigned full-time to No Excuse and concentrate on catching motorists committing the “Fatal Five”.

These are speeding, drink and drug driving, using a mobile phone, not wearing a seatbelt and dangerous and careless driving.

Sergeant Stuart Pitman, who is leading the team, revealed some of the excuses his officers have heard on the roadside.

One man caught speeding at 100mph on the A35 Dorchester Bypass said it was because he was late for a funeral.

He then admitted: “I suppose it could have been mine driving at that speed.”

One motorist was stopped after doing 93mph on the A35 Puddletown bypass. He said he was speeding because his car's fuel pump would cut out if his speed “dropped too low”.

A woman was pulled over for not wearing her seatbelt, and her excuse was: “I just had a spray-on tan and I don’t want to smudge it.”

Another woman was caught doing 40mph in a 30mph zone, and told officers: “I should have seen this coming- I’m a clairvoyant.”

Sergeant Pitman said: “It never ceases to amaze us, the excuses people come up with.

“We get a lot of similar excuses, people being late for meetings, the phone call was important- but we have not yet come across somebody with a justifiable excuse.

“Speeding drivers are our most common offence, and they can have a hugely detrimental effect on people and livelihoods.

“What I would ask people to consider is the fear they are creating for other drivers and pedestrians when they speed.

“Driving above the speed limit is wholly unacceptable.”

Officers do not just penalise offenders- They offer DAS courses, give road-side advice and respond to complaints about speeding hotspots.

Each morning the team states which roads they will be targeting that day on social media.

Sergeant Pitman said the public reaction to the campaign had been “phenomenal.”

He added: “People are sending us complaints of speeding motorists or of areas where motorists regularly flout the law and we are being proactive and targeting those areas.

“I have seen the consequences of fatal road traffic collisions and we are trying to stop that by targeting these offences. The team are doing a great job, we are getting out there, enforcing the law and talking to people. The majority of the time, they are very receptive.

“There is no excuse for committing these offences.”