Chief Supt Les Owen was reportedly running late for a meeting when the marked car he was travelling in drove at 82mph in a 40mph zone.

National road safety charity Brake said the reprimand was "appalling" and called for Mr Owen's resignation.

The car was caught on the A12 in Bow, east London, in February last year.

The vehicle's driver, Pc Mark Bradley, was fined �250 by Redbridge magistrates in January and given licence points.

'Devastating consequences'

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said Mr Owen had accepted a written warning from its Directorate of Professional Standards for "failing to challenge the manner in which a Pc drove a police car in which he was a passenger".

A spokeswoman for Brake said: "As somebody who knows first hand the devastating consequences of high speed crashes, it is just appalling.

"He should do the right thing now and resign."

A warning is just words, he has not had any loss of privilege or pay, nothing which would actually affect him Zoe Stow, RoadPeace

Kevin Delaney, head of traffic and road safety at the RAC Foundation, said: "He may not have been holding the steering wheel, but he was the one who held all the power."

Zoe Stow, chair of RoadPeace, said: "A warning is just words, he has not had any loss of privilege or pay, nothing which would actually affect him."

Mr Owen, who received his warning last month, has worked with London Safety Camera Partnership, a group which aims to reduce the number of speed and red light running accidents in London.

Following the installation of new cameras in east London in February 2003, Chief Supt Owen said: "The fact is that speeding kills.