Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi all,

From searching I can see that this is a fairly well known road, and would be grateful for advice as to recent appeal outcomes, bearing in mind the updates to signage. GSV -

I used to live nearby about 20 years ago and regularly used it as a route home. I still often used it as a shortcut during the intervening years, albeit not recently. So my main excuse is that when I used it 'for old time's sake' on the way home from a family day out on a Sunday afternoon, I had zero reason to expect any restrictions, especially at that time on a weekend. Looking at the video, and having visited the site since to try to work out how the hell I missed any signs, I can only guess that my concentration may have been on the approaching white car, plus the bollard type sign indicating to keep left may have made me presume that the signs on the poles were indicating the same thing; I was aware this is a narrowed section. Also with it being just a regular residential street, the cars coming the other way would have made me think that nothing was amiss, no reason to suspect any restrictions?

Ironically once around the corner and approaching the rail bridge I did jam on the brakes on seeing two blue "No Motor Vehicles.." signs, and two 'flying bike / camera' signs further on after the bridge. Very confused as to whether this restriction was in force (there were no day / time signs), but erring on the side of caution, I did a three point turn and routed down a side road (after double checking the days & times of the school restriction on it!). I can only presume that the reason I saw these, and not the ones prior, is the difference in location & size; the latter ones are clear of any other signs or background interference, and larger. The ones before the corner have houses in the background, plus the No Entry signs just beyond, and are significantly smaller. I'll post up some links to recent photos as I'm aware GSV is out of date - probably around the same time that I previously routed through it!

So PCN details:






And online evidence screenshot:



And images / video:







Many thanks for any advice, my gut feeling is that I have no hope re: inadequate signage, but am keen to know if the online procedural errors still exist, and if they are being successful in appeals.

And even better, there have only been 4 APPEALS at the Tribunal at this location! That means that every single appeal that has been published has been won.

After reviewing the location, it shows that 4 appeals were allowed, all in 2024, for inadequate signage! No clue if they've updated it recently, but the CCTV doesn't show otherwise. The sign on the left is misplaced and barely visible, leaving only one sign on the right and the motorist would be looking at the island and crossing rather than that.

Justin Oliver vs London Borough of Lewisham

Thanks for this. The previous cases I found from 2024 seemed to indicate that there was only one small sign to the left of the carriageway, and this was the reason it was regarded as inadequate. From the adjudicators comments it sounds like the second sign was in place for this appeal, but was still regarded as inadequate. Plus the other factors are exactly what I have thought - the keep left sign being a distraction etc.