Hundreds of motorists have been fined after an ‘unauthorised’ 50mph sign was erected in a 40mph zone.
The fake speed sign was placed on the A20 in Sidcup, south east London, despite Transport for London (TfL) lowering the limit due to water flooding.
Although the sign has since been replaced, motorists have been handed speeding fines and points on their licenses.
Many have now banded together to appeal the fines on Facebook.
Solicitor Dominic Smith, who is supporting the group, said: ‘I’m aware of around 600 people who have been caught. Many of them five, six or seven times. So we are talking a few thousand speeding offences.’
The misleading sign is believed to have been erected by a third party, and the Met Police has confirmed they are investigating it as an attempt to pervert the course of justice.
A TfL spokesperson said: ‘Safety is our number one priority and we have temporarily introduced a 40mph speed limit on the A20 Sidcup Road due to ongoing surface water flooding which has caused a number of safety concerns and serious risk to road users.
‘The reduced speed limit has been introduced in response to that risk. Major work is required to put in place permanent measures to tackle flooding here and we are working to do this as soon as possible. We plan to begin construction work on these measures in May.
‘TfL wants to ensure that all drivers are treated fairly and speed limit signage was installed to reflect the new limit.
‘TfL reviewed the signage at this location and found that an incorrect 50mph sign had been recently placed at this location by an unauthorised third party. This has been replaced with the correct 40mph signage and TfL is investigating how the incorrect sign was installed.’