SURREY County Council is to set up an initiative to monitor and report lorry drivers who ignore weight limits on roads, based on the HGV Watch run by volunteers in Chobham.

The county is to also set up cameras across the county to record over-weight vehicles that drive past restriction signs.

Its intention is to strengthen the enforcement of limits on 91 roads in Surrey that are aimed at protecting environmentally sensitive buildings and bridges from damage by HGVs.

Volunteers will send details and photographs of offending lorries to a central database. The council will then warn the operators and consider prosecuting repeat offenders.

The scheme has been welcomed by Carole Mancini, who co-ordinated Chobham HGV Watch. The volunteers recorded lorries breaking the law in the village High Street, which has a 7.5-tonne weight limit because it is in a conservation area.

“Two years ago, we recorded 650 illegal HGVs driving through the High Street from over 200 companies,” she said. “That averaged 64-plus HGVs per day, none of which were delivering to the High Street, which is the only reason large lorries can use the road.

“It is great that the county council has now identified a resource to work with volunteers in Chobham and across the county.

“I look forward to seeing the impact this HGV Watch scheme will have now that the county will be writing directly to the operators. I hope that the council is granted permission to issue fines and that they can allocate the budget for cameras in our High Street within the next financial year.”

The Chobham volunteers – exasperated by Surrey Police saying it did not have enough officers to enforce vehicle weight limits – spent more than 100 hours recording the number plates and owners of lorries breaking the High Street limit.

They wrote to the vehicle owners requesting them to tell drivers to follow different routes and successfully reduced the re-offending rate.

A county council spokesman said it intended to start the county HGV Watch next month.

“Trained volunteers will make observations and upload pictures and evidence of contraventions via our website,” he added “If there is evidence of repeated contraventions, it may lead to police action or potentially the use of a traffic enforcement camera.

“This scheme will significantly reduce the number of HGVs contravening 7.5-tonne weight restrictions and help to educate the drivers to choose more appropriate routes.”

Previously, only local authorities in London were permitted to use cameras to record “moving traffic” offences but Surrey has won permission from the Government to install enforcement cameras.