The manager of a pharmacy has collected 200 signatures on a petition calling for a speed camera to be reinstated.

Vanessa Roach, who works at Williams Chemist, in Frindsbury Road, Strood, set up the petition after being contacted by people living in the area.

Mrs Roach, who lives just up the road from her workplace in Frindsbury Hill, was approached by neighbours and customers who say the road is used by boy racers driving to the Medway City Estate.

Despite police introducing several dispersal orders, which did ease the problem, those orders have now run out.

People living nearby say the situation has got worse since the camera was taken down.

It was removed in December 2012 after a routine inspection found the camera was corroded, but at the time, Medway Council, which works in partnership with the Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership (KMSCP), did not have enough money to replace it.

Mrs Roach, who has lived in the area for 20 years, collected 200 signatures calling for the camera, which was on the hill between Parsonage Lane and the Sans Pareil roundabout on the A228, to be reinstated.

She said: “We had been approached by many residents who came in to say they wanted to see it back up as speeding motorists, including boy racers on Fridays and Saturday nights were a big problem.”

Mrs Roach found out the mobile speed camera van had only visited the site twice, in October and December 2013.

She added: “I’ve had a reply from the council saying in principle it agrees a camera should go back up, but it could not give me a date for the work to be completed.

“We would basically like more commitment on a definite timescale.

“We are talking about people’s safety and people living in the road, including me, would like to be able to get a good night’s sleep.”

A spokesman for the safety camera partnership said: “Contracts are in place to upgrade the ageing wet film camera stock currently in use with digital technology.

“This site will be considered for replacement as part of a county-wide upgrade programme.”

A Medway Council spokesman added: “The council has been seeking an interim solution and is currently working to introduce some replacement equipment.”