COUNTY police told a driver they were too short-staffed to be able to take dash-cam footage as evidence of dangerous driving.

It came as Adrian Davies, 59, sent Wiltshire Police video of a car being driven the wrong direction around a roundabout near Sainsbury’s in Chippenham.

“It’s annoying,” the Corsham man said. “They are asking fo dash cam evidence when something happens and they need help from the public. It’s a smack in the teeth to go to the trouble of submitting a video and they don’t do anything about it.”

Mr Davies was sent a letter by justice traffic supervisor Ann Badminton, saying that people would not be processing “dash camera evidenced traffic offences”.

“This unfortunate decision has been made due to the fact that the department that processes this material is currently awaiting four new employees to clear vetting, has an unusual level of short term sickness, along with an unprecedented level of workload,” she added.

Supt Dave Minty, lead for crime standards at Wiltshire Police, told the Gazette and Herald: “Our Justice Traffic department has been dealing with an unprecedented level of demand recently, which has come at the same time as some staff shortages.

“Unfortunately, this has meant we have had to make the difficult decision to temporarily halt our work processing dash cam footage for traffic offences where there is no victim or injuries.

"Dash-cam footage relating to victims or injuries is always processed and reviewed."