Fake sign does job - briefly

CANBERRA - About 200 disgruntled Sydney drivers will be getting refunds and their demerit points restored after the discovery that they been busted by a blitz using a fake traffic sign.

Police had clamped down on drivers trying to beat rush hour traffic in Beecroft by ducking down a side street after residents complained no one was taking any notice of the law.

A traffic sign that had recently appeared - apparently in response to almost two decades of campaigning by local school headmaster Colin May - banned left turns into Albert Rd between 7.30am and 9.30am. May was delighted when the sign went up.

So was Hornsby Mayor Nick Berman who, the Northern District Times reported, turned up to accept the congratulations of locals.

But the sign, the paper said, was fake, apparently taken from somewhere else and expertly planted on the corner by a resident.

When people complained, police started fining. Now the State Debt Recovery Office is faced with paying back fines of A$175 ($204) each, and restoring lost demerit points.