A MABE man who has suffered the heartbreak of losing two cats hit by passing traffic, is urging motorists to slow down.

Tom Millington no longer takes his one year-old daughter for a walk outside the house in Church Road, because he is too fearful of what could happen.

"Cars go flying past at any time really, but probably more at night when there is less on the road. We've had two cats killed, another one injured and also a fourth cat which was killed which didn't belong to us, but someone left it on our drive.

Biscuit was the first victim last year, just two weeks after she had given birth to a litter of kittens.

Tom, 25, had to give the babies to the Cats Protection League, after trying without success to hand-rear them.

Leo was hit earlier this year but survived, although he is now nervous about having his face touched.

Then, in the latest incident, Dolly was run over last week.

"We got back after dark and went upstairs to go outside on the balcony. We looked down and saw her there on the step and we feared the worst," said Tom.

"There's no way we'll have any more cats while we're living here. There's a nice walk down to Argal Reservoir from here, but I won't do that with the family now. It's just not worth the risk."

The road has 30mph signs clearly marked in both directions, but Tom said the main offenders come from the direction of the village.

He said there had been several near misses and minor incidents outside his house, in which car wing mirrors' had clashed and in one instance, a car hit the hedge.

He also regularly hears car brakes screeching as they struggle to negotiate the bends a bit further along the road towards the reservoir.

There is no pavement and no street lights outside Tom's family's house and he would like to see some calming measures introduced - either speed humps or a digital tracker which displays vehicles' speeds as they approach.

Chairman of Mabe Parish Council Peter Tisdale said: "We are well aware of the problem, not just along that stretch but on all four roads into Mabe. There are traffic calming measures in the design process with Cornwall Council now, which we hope will be completed in the near future.

"There are 30mph signs all along that road, but at the end of the day if people are going to ignore them, it's difficult to stop. It's all down to the driver."

Besides traffic calming measures, a group of parishioners are currently being trained by Devon & Cornwall Police to enable them to carry out speed checks.

Known as Community Speedwatch, it allows civilians to record offending vehicles which can lead to police prosecution.

Not only does it measure speed, it records registration numbers to identify vehicles which are uninsured, untaxed or without an MoT. It can also help to identify vehicles connected to more serious crimes such as County Lines drug trafficking.