The police officer who brought speed cameras to Britain has sparked a row after admitting: "It has gone too far."

Peter Joslin, the former chief constable of Warwickshire, warned police they are in danger of turning the public against them by introducing more traps.

But the head of a controversial camera scheme in the North-East last night described 70-year-old Mr Joslin, who retired six years ago, as "out of touch".

Mick Bennett, of the Cleveland Safety Camera Partnership, said: "He clearly has not got a full understanding of how the scheme has developed since he was a policeman.

"I don't want to call him a silly old codger, but what I would say is that things have moved on since he introduced them and we should be grateful that he did."

Mr Joslin was chairman of the traffic committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers from 1989 to 1992 when the Conservative government was considering introducing cameras.

Following extensive travel across Europe to look at how effective they were, Mr Joslin persuaded the Tories they should use the Gatso cameras on Britain's roads.

Now the country's 4,500 speed cameras are forecast to issue three million £60 penalty tickets this year - raking in £180m.

But Mr Joslin said: "We are in danger of alienating the public. We must not lose public support.

"People are becoming cynical about what is going on with speed cameras. We are not a nanny state. Most people select a sensible speed to go at."

He added: "Don't get me wrong. We kill ten people a day on our roads. Everything that can be done to reduce that should be.

"But cameras should be sited at accident blackspots, not in the best place to raise revenue." Mr Bennett, a retired traffic officer, said: "We monitor casualty data and speed data on all roads and we only introduce a camera where we see a need to based on the number of accidents."