SPEED cameras are either the bane of Britain’s motorists or vital to public safety, depending on whom you ask.

But on Wednesday night a motorist allegedly took offence to once such device in Poole as they tried to saw through the cross bar connecting the camera to its pole.

The Dorset Police No Excuse Facebook account yesterday said: “A motorist last night thought it was a bright idea, that after probably being caught by a static speed camera, they would turn around and attempt to cut the camera down in order to prevent getting a speeding ticket.”

Residents of Bournemouth Road, where the camera enforces a 30mph speed limit on the hill down into Ashley Cross, reported seeing police clustered on the street outside at around midnight.

“They were there for quite a while,” said Christine Eaton, 72. “It did sound like there was some noise before they turned up but I didn’t see anything.

“That camera is very active, they come up and change the film quite regularly. It keeps it quiet around here.”

Another resident of the block opposite the camera, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Nothing surprises me much any more. When you have seen people coming up here from Ashley Cross after a few drinks on a Friday or Saturday.

“You see a lot of guys swinging on the camera as they go past.

“It slows the traffic down and makes a bit of money for the council from the holidaymakers. I don’t drive myself.”

He said he had seen a van parked slightly up the road from the camera and a man stood next to it, but police were already on the scene.

Yesterday a close look at the camera itself revealed the damage, a cut around a centimetre deep in the crossbar. Dorset Police said the camera is still in working order.

A spokesman for the force said a “saw” or “blade” is thought to have been the cause.

A man has been arrested and charged with criminal damage and is due to appear at Poole Magistrates’ Court on March 24.