THOUSANDS of vehicles are expected to join Saturday's slow drive along the Wiltshire stretch of M4 to protest against the new speed cameras.

The organiser of the event, Robin Summerhill, has warned other motorists that it could cause serious congestion between junctions 14 and 18.

Mr Summerhill, of Birch Grove, Chippenham feels so strongly about the cameras he has started a group called M4 Protest to voice his concerns.

He said the rally would show the driving public's dissatisfaction with speed cameras and driving safely is too complex to be measured in miles per hour.

Mr Summerhill, 52, who has never been fined for speeding, said the public response had been amazing.

He said: "We've had more than 30,000 website page views in just five days, many hundreds of emails of support and less than a dozen against. But it isn't enough.

"It is impossible to know what the level of support will turn out to be on the day, but we have every reason to believe that it will be considerable."

He is urging other concerned motorists to join the rally at either Leigh Delamere or Membury services from 10am on Saturday. At 11am protest convoys will leave both service stations, travelling west from Membury and east from Leigh Delamere.

"We have discussed with police the risk of service station car park overflow," said Mr Summerhill. "If this happens, police will have to close the slip road because traffic backing up onto the motorway would be dangerous."

He said he would take all possible precautions to minimise traffic disruption along the busy stretch of motorway including asking protest vehicles to steer clear of the outside lane and liaising with police.

He is asking people to drive at 56 miles per hour the speed HGVs are limited to.

He advised other road users not to rely on those service stations for fuel or to use an alternative route.

Mr Summerhill reassured motorists the protest would be peaceful, legal and police approved. He added that many individual police officers were highly sympathetic to the group's aims.

"If the M4 Protest does cause serious congestion then we would see that as a very strong indication that the public believes policy is wrong," he said. "If people were not upset, they wouldn't attend and there would be no congestion. In short, we blame the Government.

"We have a golden opportunity to send a message to politicians before the election by joining the M4 Protest."

He said figures released by the RAC revealed 67 per cent of motorists thought that speed cameras had no positive impact.

Paul Smith, M4 Protest road safety spokesman said: "Speed cameras have issued £700 million pounds in fines and made road safety worse. Clearly it's time for change."

This week the Association of British Drivers (ABD) said it was giving its full support to the M4 Protest Campaign.

ABD chairman Brian Gregory said: "This is an absolutely golden opportunity for the motoring public to make their voice heard in the run up to the general election. If the opportunity is missed then we risk facing another five years of disastrous road safety policy."

The association's road safety spokesman, Mark McArthur-Christie, added: "It was not a good idea to start using camera vans on the M4. We believe that they will make the motorway more dangerous, not less. Essential public trust has collapsed, and in time to force the politicians to examine their positions."

Further details are available on www.m4protest.org