Nearly 400 speeders piled up in Traffic Court yesterday when magistrates dealt with a record number of tickets.

Around 100 motorists were forced to stand outside the Magistrates' Court building in thunder, lightning and pouring rain, as court officials struggled to find room inside.

Administrator Tracey Kelly said the courtroom chaos emphasised the need for speeding fines to be payable by mail.

He said court officials were already talking with senior civil servants and Ministers about forcing through new laws.

Angry defendants took shelter under the small canopy outside court, still leaving a large crowd to wait in the weather.

And Mr. Kelly apologised for not warning the 372 motorists they would face a jam before their hearings.

Three magistrates -- Will Francis, Ed King and Archie Warner -- divided up the cases so each court was full with defendants.

But around 100 people still had to wait up to two hours before they could even get inside the court building, with the front entrance becoming a bottleneck.

Mr. Kelly said the log-jam could not be avoided because of a series of tickets being written for March 4 during a spate of recent Police speed traps.

He added: "We were aware of the problem early enough to have made some sort of press release but we were too busy trying to accommodate people and moving courts around.

"Perhaps if this happened again, we would ask the press to let people know.'' He said court officials considered staggering appointments but feared motorists would be confused by time changes.

"Now we need to put our energies into having these tickets paid by mail,'' said Mr. Kelly.

"Anything over 53 kph requires a court appearance. That's too low. It's something we have been working on and this sends a message that we need to get it done.'' Furious defendants told The Royal Gazette they had not been told that they would have to wait outside in the rain.

Shannon Warner, 32, of Devonshire, said: "I was doing 55 kph and that was just three weeks ago. I was surprised it came to court so quickly but I don't think they could care less we were all bunched together.'' Bobby Zuill, of Paget, stopped at 56 kph, added: "We were given no warning whatsoever. My name begins with Z so I suppose it's just tough that I've got a long wait.'' Traffic ties up courts ridiculous. It's hard enough paying a fine as it is, without being forced to take a full afternoon off work. The system needs to be much better.'' Mr. Kelly said the weekly court for speeding tickets usually accommodated around 200 motorists.

Mr. Kelly added: "This was a record for us -- around double what we would normally expect. But we still managed to get finished by 4.30 p.m.

"That meant nobody had to wait outside for more than two hours.

"Police officers schedule speeding tickets to be dealt with on Thursdays, which is our weekly traffic court.

"And they have been very busy recently so it's just unfortunate that all these cases have had to be dealt with at once.''