CALLS have been made for a sign warning drivers of a permanent speed limit change after fines rose more than 1,700 per cent on a county road.

Police figures show 409 motorists were fined in Middleton Stoney Road, Bicester, between July 2012 and June 2013, compared with only 22 in the same period in 2010/11, and 239 in 2011/12.

The road had a 50mph speed limit until a temporary limit of 30mph came into force in April 2010, as work started on the Kingsmere estate. A sign was installed near the junction with Villiers Road and the 30mph speed was made permanent in November 2012.

But because there is now no sign in Middleton Stoney Road, as you enter from Oxford Road, a number of drivers assumed it reverted back to 50mph.

Oxfordshire County Council say its signs are in line with national regulations which states signs should be in place where the limit starts – in Oxford Road.

Mother-of-10 Karen Johnston, of Severn Close, was fined £60 and given three penalty points after being caught by police speeding in Middleton Stoney Road last month.

She said: “I always thought the road was 50mph from Villiers Road. “I was travelling up there and there was a policeman with a radar gun. “There was another man who had been caught in front of me. “The policeman asked me the speed limit and I said 50, he said no it’s 30.

“I have lived here 20 years and I remember seeing the 30 signs then they took them down, I thought it was temporary. I just thought it (the 30mph) was while the road works were there and vehicles were going in and out of the new housing estate.”

Town, district and county councillor Les Sibley said measures need be taken to clarify what the speed limit is.

He said: “We need signs up to say what the speed limit is. You can understand why people are confused.”

A county council spokesman said: “It is not possible to install repeater signs in locations such as this as street lighting, which the Highway Code lists as an indicator of a 30mph limit, are in place. “The 30mph limit came in when work began to construct the Bicester West development and has since become permanent.”

Thames Valley Police spokesman Rhianne Pope said there were 30mph signs on both sides of the road as drivers entered it.

She also said there was street lighting which indicated the speed limit but also meant there were no signs allowed in the zone.