By Zoe Gough BBC News Online, Worcestershire

The partnership has been running since April 2003

They refuse to be defeated by the current public outcry against speed cameras despite almost daily criticism and growing abuse of patrols and equipment.

BBC News Online met one enforcement officer to see what keeps him turning up to work every day.

It is a job which Malcolm Wilkes, 50, admits generates as much animosity as that of a traffic warden as he watches the roads of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

We visited a site by a Worcester housing estate and in under an hour caught nine motorists exceeding the 30mph limit by 5mph or more - even though we were sat in a marked white and yellow van.

Mr Wilkes issued a broadside to motorists who refuse to heed the campaign's safety message, saying: 'you will give up first'.

What we're doing is of benefit to the areas where we go, the residents appreciate us being there Malcolm Wilkes, enforcement officer

"People only slow down for the speed camera not because they think they are driving too fast and could cause an accident, or if they hit a pedestrian they could kill them," he said.

"They say it is a stealth tax but it is the only tax I know where you have a choice to pay it or not.

"It is their choice not to stick to the speed limits but I know who will give up first - 12 penalty points on their license and they'll be walking."

However Mr Wilkes, a former police motorcyclist, admits it is his ambition to do himself out of a job - by having everyone stick to the speed limit.

He is one of eight enforcement officers who operate 100 speed camera sites for the Camera Safety Partnership in West Mercia.

"I have 26-and-a-half years of traffic experience and I have seen what accidents can do," he said.

"What we're doing is of benefit to the areas where we go, the residents appreciate us being there."

Motorists can request to see the video tape evidence

Yet Mr Wilkes regularly suffers verbal abuse, car horns being sounded and insulting gestures from drivers he describes as being in a "rage".

"There is less respect and more abuse compared to my time in the police," he said.

"They know it is not police officers operating it so they think they can get away with abusing you.

"They do get worked up because they won't accept being told that they can't exceed the speed limit.

"We're in our infancy and people are so used to speeding and getting away with it."

The officer, who has received one speeding ticket himself, says people wrongly perceive the scheme as a money-maker.

"Casualty reduction is what we're being judged on, not on how many we book, the fact the speed has dropped at most of our sites means we are having an effect," he said.

"The government is under a lot of pressure from the press and the public but if it sticks to its guns people will eventually realise we are not going to go away."

Signs indicate the partnership's sites to motorists

Heather Mead, communications manager for the partnership, said: "The whole team strongly believe in the scheme as a good way of reducing collisions, which is why they do it.

"Drink driving laws and wearing seat belts were both hugely unpopular when first introduced. There is nothing like the number of drivers who do either of those things now, it has become an accepted way of life.

"That is our long term aim, to make it unacceptable to speed."

Motorists in Worcester expressed mixed feelings about speed and speed cameras.

Charlotte Finlay, 42, from Worcester, said: "I think in built up areas where the speed limit is 30mph they're right.

"I have been caught twice. It makes me slow down now, I think they do work in the right place."

Betty Jones, 79, from Worcester, said: "I think they are a good idea but some of the speed limits are too low through the villages.