Thanks to the Croydon Guardian the council has bowed to pressure and is introducing new signs at a road junction which has been trapping at least 30 drivers a day.

It is thought the traffic signals in West Croydon have netted the council about £320,000 since January.

The issue was first highlighted by the Croydon Guardian in June. Our reporter later spotted 31 drivers going the wrong way into Poplar Walk from London Road in one hour.

Dozens of angry motorists contacted us to complain about the signs at the junction, which they said were inadequate.

Thousands of drivers snapped by a camera illegally following buses into the road were sent £100 penalty notices, which can be reduced to £50 if paid in 14 days.

There were concerns that the council was cashing in, but they denied this and insisted money from penalty notices went to fund the freedom pass travel cards for pensioners.

Initially town hall traffic planners refused to budge, blaming motorists for the unusually high number of penalty notices being handed out.

But after our intervention and calls from disgruntled drivers the council has finally seen sense and is planning to make changes to signs at the confusing junction.

A council spokesman said: "We are satisfied that the junction is adequately signposted. The parking and traffic appeals service's adjudicators have concurred with us when penalties have gone to appeal.

"Since January we have seen a drop in penalties, as there were more than 1,500 penalty charge notices issued in both January and February, whereas the number of penalties for July was below 700, a significant drop.

"The number of motorists who do not obey the direction signs represents a very small proportion of the motorists who use this junction "To improve the junction further we will be erecting an additional sign shortly to advise drivers that there is no entry to Poplar Walk. "

Andy Drudy from Seaford, East Sussex, demanded statistics from the council after being snapped committing the offence there in May.

Speaking about the latest turn of events he said: "At least that's progress. I'm pleased that something's happening although it's a bit disappointing that it has taken this long.

"Why has all of this got to go on before the council do something? They are supposed to be working for the public so why does it take this amount of inertia to get something done?

"However, I am very pleased because my intention was to get the council to do something and ultimately for me it was a public safety issue so it is very, very good."

Peter Morgan from the Croydon Road Users Forum also spoke cautiously about the plans.

"That may be of some help but what they really need is a green traffic light signal that tells people to turn right. It should be a green arrow.

"I think they should stop the total ban altogether and it is very unlikely that the change of signs will make much of a difference - but we will have to wait and see what the council's proposals are.

"If they put a no access sign up it will be misleading because there is access to Poplar Walk from Station Road."

Hamish Birchall was angered by the penalty charge notice he received in relation to the junction and is still appealing his case.

He discovered that between June 14 - a week before the article was published - and August 7 1,524 people were issued with a penalty charge notice for the junction, an average of more than 30 a day.

Hamish said: "I think just adding another sign may not solve the problems as the problem seems to be information overload. I suppose time will tell."

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