Southall box junction to be removed (From Ealing Times)

Southall box junction to be removed

10:43am Friday 15th August 2008 in

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A CONTROVERSIAL box junction in Southall is being removed.

The junction at South Road and Hamilton Road is being completely removed by Ealing Council, although three similarly designed boxes in the area, branded unlawful by one campaigner, will remain.

In June the Ealing Times revealed that a similar junction in South Road and St Joseph’s Drive, had netted the council more than £1m in the past year.

Jim Douglas, founder of the website Moneybox Junction, who has helped dozens of people appeal tickets handed to them on these junctions, said: “This junction has not been enforced for some time. It is, however, the same design as two others on the same road, and maybe this is the council dipping their toe in the water in terms of getting rid of them.

“These type of junctions have consistently been ruled as unlawful by the parking ombudsman, so we will wait and see.”

However, Councillor Phil Taylor, the man tasked with improving parking in Ealing, said the junction was being removed because people already respected it.

He said: “The reason we have these box junctions in Southall is to make sure the traffic can keep moving. Otherwise it would come to a standstill and be a complete nightmare.

“The fact is this junction is actually very well respected. The reason we are removing it is to try and make the street as safe as possible and a bit more sensible.

“There are no plans, as far as I’m aware, to change the other junctions.”

Cllr Taylor also said the council was waiting to hear back from the Department for Transport on whether the design of the boxes, which covers two both lanes of South Road, is lawful.

The change was announced along with a raft of other measures for parking, which include freezing the price of permits.