Andy McSmith's Sketch: Give way road safety, here comes the racy Godfrey Bloom

With time on his hands, because his public falling out with Nigel Farage has made him an ex-MEP, Godfrey Bloom has taken up cudgels on behalf of motorists who want to drive at speed in built-up areas.

Mr Bloom’s answer is to get rid of speed cameras and leave it to the police to catch the genuinely dangerous drivers.

He was speaking in a London club at an event for the Drivers’ Union, which is run by volunteers who believe that motorists are hounded by a combination of government, vested interests and environmental ideologues. The vested interests include the private firms making money from speed awareness courses.

“If you visit a lot of speed awareness courses, as I have in Yorkshire,” Mr Bloom said, “you’ll find that three quarters are little old ladies who have been caught going to Tesco doing 36 miles an hour. This has got nothing to do with safety. It’s about nicking 80 quid from every person in middle England on their way to Tesco.”

The Drivers Union is the idea of former traffic officer, Keith Peat, who believes drivers who cause queues by driving too slowly should be prosecuted.

He said he was glad of the support of someone as famous as Godfrey Bloom, whose name could get “bums on seats”.