Worried mothers from a village near Warminster have staged a protest to highlight problems of speeding.

Mother-of-two Virginia Neal, 45, is worried about speeding traffic coming through Chitterne and on Friday gathered more than 30 mums in the village to stage a protest, aimed at getting Wiltshire Council to take action.

Mrs Neal, who lives on the B390 with her husband, John Dillon, 50, two children Fergus, 12, and Phemie, 10, and her parents Andrina and Nigel, said: “Speeding has been a problem for years and the parish council have tried to put in traffic calming measures through Wiltshire Council, but there’s never any money.

“Unfortunately until you have a serious injury or death you’re not a statistic.

“Our children have to cross the road regularly when they get off the school bus and it’s extremely dangerous – there’s no footpath and no-one keeps to the limit.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We are aware this is a very important issue and want to reassure people that we are taking it seriously and working with police.

“It will be raised at the Warminster Area Board meeting where people will have the chance to discuss their concerns.

“We believe it will be the perfect opportunity to put it forward for the community speed watch scheme.

“This could see local residents trained to use speed detection equipment to monitor speeds and arrange for letters to be sent to the keepers of offending vehicles.”

West Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison has also been discussing the problem of speeding in Chapmanslade, near Westbury.

The MP was at the village primary school on Monday to discuss traffic issues with the headteacher Joss Jewell and representatives from the parish council.

Dr Murrison said: “Chapmanslade is a long, linear village and the temptation is for vehicles to go too fast.”

Mrs Jewell said: “There are always children coming in and out of the school, which causes congestion, and people park on the side of road if their bungalows don’t have parking.

“We haven’t had a lollipop lady for about three years but it’s quite hard to recruit someone so there’s talk of having a school sign and lights.”