A North Sea oil worker, banned from driving for a year after he was pictured making hand gestures at a speed camera, vowed yesterday to fight the sentence.

Sean Toehill, 21, said he took both hands off the wheel of his car to make "peace" signs at the camera. But an act intended as "a laugh" backfired when he was snapped by the camera and convicted of dangerous driving.

Toehill had been driving with four friends in July when he spotted the camera in the rear of a van parked on a grass verge in Cupar and made the gesture. Police viewed the footage and charged Toehill with dangerous driving.

At Cupar Sheriff Court on Monday, Toehill was convicted of the offence and banned from driving for a year with a requirement to resit his test. He was also fined £90.

Toehill looked away from the road ahead and leaned across the car when he made the gestures, the court heard. He was not, however, exceeding the 40mph speed limit.

Toehill, from Cupar, said yesterday he had acted on the "spur of the moment". He insisted: "I was not using my hands in an offensive way. I was making a peace sign. I was having a laugh with my mates. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing.

"Two days later, police officers came to my door and questioned me. They said I would be charged for dangerous driving. I couldn't believe it. There's a lot worse stuff on the roads. I will be speaking to my lawyer about an appeal."

Chief Inspector Joe Swanston, of Fife's road policing unit, said the case showed that safety cameras could be used to counter inappropriate driver behaviour other than speeding.

"This young driver was clearly showing off to his friends when he chose to put himself, his four passengers and other road users at risk by taking his hands off the wheel," he said.