Confusing 'no left turn' sign raking in £100,000 a week for council

Hackney Council has taken almost £900,000 from fines issued over two months

A ban on a single left-hand turn has made Hackney Council almost £900,000 in fines in just two months.

Drivers in east London are furious about getting hit with multiple £65 fines and have criticised the council for confusion over the “no left turn” road sign.

Motorists have been prohibited from turning from Mare Street into Richmond Road at certain times of the day since the start of June.

The council has issued 13,819 tickets for the violation, caught by a single traffic camera over a nine week period.

It means the council has collected around £100,000 a week in fines – just over £900,000 in total.

Ahmed Khellaf told the Hackney Gazette he was hit with nine tickets worth a total of £585, and had his appeals rejected. “I went to the council and there were over 30 people there to complain about the same thing,” he said.

One 74-year-old Islington Council worker has been asked to pay £1,365 after being handed 21 separate tickets.

The sign was put up on 6 June as part of a “school streets initiative” to encourage safety around London Fields Primary School, reducing traffic during pick up and drop off times between 7am and 10am, and 3pm and 7pm.

It was placed in a lower position in July after complaints by local motorists.

But drivers have continued to attack the council for not making the information clear enough. One local resident on Twitter called it “poorly located”.

Another said: “Just a thought here, if they put more of these signs around the borough to catch people out, could we have a council tax reduction please.”

The RAC said the council should change its signage to stop so many drivers falling foul of the ban.

“The number of fines being given to drivers at this junction suggests something is wrong – and it might well be that the sheer amount of signage and a difficult road layout is to blame,” said spokesman Rod Dennis.

“A review of all the street signage around the junction would be very welcome.”

Hackney Council said the signage meets all Department for Transport requirements.

“The changes to this junction are part of our pioneering school streets initiative which is improving air quality and making it easier and safer for families to walk and cycle to and from school,” said a spokesperson.

“While it is the responsibility of drivers to read this signage and adhere to the road closures, we will of course listen to representations where a driver feels that a fine has been issued unfairly or received multiple fines during a short period.”