CIVILIAN speed camera operators have begun working at up to 400 sites across Lancashire - and already motorists are upset.

Twelve new speed enforcement wardens employed by the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety are stationed across the county. They began on Thursday of last week.

Each police division has two technicians, including Pennine division, covering Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, and Eastern, covering Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley.

The technicians trained for over a month and each one's salary is reportedly £16,000 a year, coming from the road safety partnership's budget.

But one technician's presence at Preston New Road, in Blackburn, during yesterday's morning rush hour angered electrician Andrew Klavins, of Lammack Road in the town.

He said: "I took my children to Westholme School and notice an officer standing with a mobile camera at 8.25 in the morning. Traffic was already at a crawl, as it was in the middle of the school run and rush hour. Cars were queuing way down the road. You could hardly move.

"Yet the camera man was trying to catch people driving above 30mph. This is a total waste of resources. Why put an officer there when the traffic is already at a standstill?"

John Davies, project officer for Lancashire Road Safety Partnership, said: "I disagree that this is a waste of time. It is in line with the Police Speed Enforcement Policy. The scheme involves between 300 and 400 sites across the county, and technicians probably monitor three sites a day.

"Locations are chosen because of casualties. That's what this whole operation is about."

He did not have information to confirm whether the fixed-camera stand at Preston New Road had a camera inside at the time mentioned by Mr Klavins. But he said cameras could be moved from stand to stand.

And he said: "Fixed camera sites can also be used as mobile camera sites and we sometimes undertake enforcement at these locations. All the roads we are due to monitor are updated weekly on our website. We are fairly open about this."

Asked if camera duties were necessary to monitor rush-hour traffic, he said he was unable to comment without seeing specific traffic speed data.

No figures on how many penalties have been issued are yet available.

But the partnership has pledged to release details of where the technicians will be every Saturday in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph once they start work.