POLICE have denied a claim made at a public meeting that they could not carry out traffic monitoring on a busy road because a hand-held speed gun had been stolen.

Community police officers had pledged to carry out monitoring at Harlaw Hill, Prestonpans, after concerns over the speed of motorists were raised by local resident Dave Cater in May.

But Mr Cater told a meeting of the town’s community council on Tuesday that no monitoring had been carried out, claiming: “I was told the road had not been monitored because the police have had their radar gun stolen.”

The council has installed signs which Mr Cater described as the “size of a biscuit tin” advising the road is unsuitable for HGVs.

However, he said the pledge by police to monitor traffic at that location had not been carried out.

Brian Weddell, community council chairman, said they would raise the issue with community officers again.

He said: “I will ask the police to monitor it. Maybe they will have found their speed gun by then.”

Police Scotland, however, insist they are not missing any of their hand-held devices. A spokesperson said: “None of our speed guns are missing.”