Ever since the Surrey Comet revealed in December that Kingston Council is making hundreds of thousands of pounds through a traffic camera in Surbiton Crescent, we’ve been flooded with emails and letters from furious motorists.

The trial closure of Surbiton Crescent has caused outcry among drivers, with Kingston Council having made almost £2m in fines through the scheme.

One aggrieved driver, Richard Grosvenor, of North Kingston, is even setting up a class action lawsuit against the council.

Tariq Alam also claims to been issued 11 fines for travelling through the restriction, with the council rescinding four as a “gesture of goodwill”.

Here’s just a few of the complaints we’ve been sent over the last couple of days:

  • Gerald Haase, from Hampton Wick, said: “I frequently take my partner or other members of my family to Surbiton station.

“I was recently coming back at one o’clock in the morning and came past all those signs. First of all they were not illuminated so we didn’t notice the signs saying it’s closed to cars and motorbikes.

“I’ve been up and down that road for over 30 years and I could work out what had changed. I think the whole thing is a terrible scandal.”

  • Tariq Alam said: “This money making scheme has proven to anger and upset all of us. I myself have received 11 PCNs in total without any prior warning letter which my neighbours have received. 

“I have appealed all 11 of those and four of them have been taken off as a ‘gesture of goodwill’. In the meantime I have paid up for two of the PCN [out of] fear of having to pay the £190. 

“I am still appealing for the other seven PCNs through London tribunals and have not hear anything back.”

  • Barry Ingram said: “Both myself and my son have been fined. I tried an appeal but this was rejected.  To avoid the higher fine we both then very grudgingly paid the fine. 

“The signage is at best poor and at worst a money making scheme as seen by the sheer number of fines and no change in signage by the council as a result.  The suggestion that seemed to make most sense was the put the signs lower down and in advance of the junction.”

  • Barry Tribe said: “I was one of the drivers who was caught out as my wife works at Kinston University and had a hospital appointment. As I only pick her up every now and then I have always gone down Surbiton Crescent then first right into Angelsey Road to get back on to Portsmouth Road.

"On December 15 I did my habitual right turn then was stopped by a lady franticly waving her arms, I stopped and she said we have just got ourselves a £130 fine.

"We paid the fine thinking what was the point of challenging it as at the time many thousands of victims that were caught. Someone would have legally got around it, but I never heard of anyone getting off the fine so we never bothered as like all PCNs they very rarely are overturned.

“My mistake was out of habit and not seeing adequate signage. There was no ‘no entry’ signs written on the road at the entry, which I thought was a legal requirement.”

  • Julia Burleigh-Lowe said: “I too was find in the early weeks and is out raged as everyone else is.

"I'll be interested to find out what you plan to do, and with what how we can support one another."

  • Oliver Jackson said: “I got fined here a few months ago, it is very confusing as it looks like a normal road layout because of the giveaway sign.

"The signs are not very well seen, for years this has been a main route into Kingston - why change it? It is just a money making machine for Kingston Council."

  • Carl Licorish said: “I was fined and now expect to be reimbursed on the strength of any precedent set. Surely all drivers should now be reimbursed quickly if authorities have deemed it unfair.

“There should not be any need for further individual appeal. This has caused me enough time and inconvenience already.”