by Rebecca Hughes

Signs warning motorists not to drive through Chatham's bus station have been slammed as “inadequate” in an official report.

A tribunal ruled the signage and road markings are not “clearly visible” for drivers approaching the station from Waterfront Way.

The report published by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal follows an appeal by pensioner Peter Willson, who was fined after he ended up in the middle of the bus station when he returned to the Towns for the first time in years.

The 75-year-old of Bearsted had been fighting the fine for four months in the hope of setting a precedent to allow other drivers to successfully appeal against their own fines.

Adjudicator John Parker ruled the signs on Waterfront Way were set back from the roadside and were not sufficiently prominent and could be masked by buses coming up the hill on one side.

He also said surface signage was only visible to motorists once they had entered the bus lane and were not in accordance with Department for Transport guidance.

He said his decision was reinforced by the fact that more than 5,000 penalty charge notices (PCNs) had been handed out to drivers in just two months.

The appeal was also allowed on a second ground that the council failed to give the reasons why Mr Willson's case fell outside its policy, which it had a duty to do.

Mr Willson said: "This is a victory for the ordinary person.

"It is now up to the other people to go to appeal and I'm hoping other people are going to come forward along with the people I am already helping who came down Waterfront Way via Railway Street as I did.

"I believe if people prepare their cases and do a thorough search like I did, then even those fined for driving from Medway Street could win their appeals."

A similar appeal from another driver, Tommy May, was also allowed on the same day, while a third case was rejected after the driver, Abdul Balogun, approached the bus station from Medway Street.

Another driver appealing against her fine is Patricia New, who described the signage as "totally inadequate and confusing". She says she is taking her hearing to the tribunal next month "for all the ordinary motorists being penalised".

A spokesman for the council said it would be appealing against the decision claiming Mr Willson passed through "numerous signs" indicating he was driving into and through the bus station.

The spokesman added: "We understand that this driver (Mr Willson) said he drove into Chatham to take a trip down memory lane and was confused as the road layout had changed and there was not a bus station there when he had been years before.

"We would ask people to look where they are driving, not rely on memories and not drive through the bus station as it is potentially dangerous to the 60,000 passengers - that use it each week.”

Mr Willson said he was confident he would win again at appeal.