ASTONISHED motorist Nicholas Binns said he believes a traffic census carried out in rush hour traffic was a waste of police time.

The 39-year-old, a parish councillor in South Bucks, was travelling to work on the A40 near Beaconsfield when he was stopped by police in order to ask where he was going.

The census was carried out on behalf of Buckinghamshire County Council on September 18,19, and 20 to monitor traffic on a number of sites around Beaconsfield.

But Mr Binns, of The Pound, in Burnham, said: "South Bucks is supposed to be one of the worst policed areas in the country.

"They obviously decided that the most important thing is to hold a traffic census in the rush hour."

He tried to find out who was responsible.

"No one seemed to know anything about it. When I called Bucks County Council a woman said she had been caught in the traffic but didn't know what it had been about," he said.

However, Richard Burton spokesman for the county council said: "Unfortunately there was congestion but it was the only way we could get the information needed."

And Sergeant Phil Haseler from Amersham Traffic, involved in the three-day survey, said that no police officers were taken off normal duties to stop traffic.

He added: "We are the only ones with the power to stop vehicles. Although it is unfortunate there were some tailbacks we did cordon lanes off or lay-bys for drivers to be asked questions which only took on average about 30 seconds."

On Wednesday another census operation, causing more congestion, was mounted with the police at M40 slip-roads at Junctions 3 and 4 at Loudwater.