DENSE fog failed to deter police officers planning to carry out a speed check on the A44 London Road at Chipping Norton this week.

Thames Valley Police, working in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council road safety officers, were due to conduct the check on Wednesday morning.

However, due to the fog they switched their attention to motorists using mobile phones or not wearing seatbelts and ended up nabbing 26 people - 22 for not belting up and four for using their mobiles.

The non-seatbelt wearers were offered the option of receiving road safety advice from officers instead of a fixed penalty ticket.

The mobile phone users were issued with £60 fixed penalty notices, with three points on their licence. They can opt to pay £74 and attend a Call Divert workshop at a later date rather than accept the points.

Once the fog cleared, officers continued with the planned speed check between 11am and 12.30pm, stopping seven drivers and giving them fixed penalties for speeding.