DRIVERS caught out by misleading signs near Hounslow bus garage will have fines refunded, following a council U-turn.

Nearly 100 motorists were wrongly penalised for flouting restrictions in Kingsley Road, despite two signs within 50 metres of each other giving wrong and conflicting information on when it was permitted to park.

One sign read ‘8am-6pm Mon-Fri’ and the other ‘8am-6pm, Mon-Sun’, meaning many people received tickets for stopping there during the weekend, despite complying with the first sign.

The correct hours of operation for the single yellow line are Monday to Saturday, from 8am to 6.30pm.

The error came to light after Mahamed Abukar successfully challenged a fine he received for parking there one Sunday last November.

The 23-year-old scientist, from Hounslow, discovered 95 tickets had been issued on that small stretch of road between February 2010 and this March, while the contradictory signs were in place.

The signs have been fixed but the council initially refused to refund drivers who had been wrongly fined, only backing down after the Chronicle became involved.

A council spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to anyone who has been inconvenienced by the signs and we have reviewed our procedures make sure this is unlikely to happen again.

“The council will take steps to ensure anyone who has been issued a fine incorrectly will be refunded.”

Mr Abukar commented: “This makes me wonder is there are more cases like this across the borough.”