FURIOUS Hagley residents have reacted angrily to Worcestershire County Council’s admission they made a technical error in procedure when introducing a 50mph speed limit on the A491.

The stretch of road between Hagley and Fairfield had been under a 60mph limit since 1993.

However the County Council introduced a 50mph limit on a section of the road near Belbroughton.

A review by West Mercia Safer Roads Partnership discovered the original 60mph order was never amended to reflect the change for that part of the road.

The County Council are now applying to put the matter right, but the discovery has left motorists, who fell foul of the mobile speed cameras, wondering whether their convictions were legal?

Hagley resident Peter Rowbottom insisted: “There could be hundreds if not thousands of motorists who may have been prosecuted under a potentially illegal speed limit order, which would mean they were unfairly fined and had penalty points added to their licences.”

Fellow resident Rachel Jenkins was twice caught speeding at 55 and 56 mph on the proposed stretch.

She said: “In theory, I shouldn’t have been penalised for going over 50, yet I was fined £30 in 2004 and had three penalty points put on my licence.

“I was caught again in 2010 but elected to attend a driver awareness course rather than have another fine and penalty points.

“I had to pay for the course and take half a day off work as well.

“What’s gone wrong and why has it taken so long to put it right?

“It seems the only way you can challenge this is through the courts, but that could prove expensive.”

County Cllr Ed Moore said: “It’s a legal matter and I’m not a legal man, so I couldn’t comment on it.”