Six tickets have been issued to drivers after Halstead’s Neighbourhood Policing Team staged an intervention following complaints from residents.

The force was contacted about drivers taking a short-cut down a one-way road off of the A131 in Bulmer, close to The Bulmer Fox pub, as they drive from Sudbury towards Halstead.

Instead of continuing on the A131 and taking the correct exit to get onto Hedingham Road towards Castle Hedingham, drivers ignored the obvious “no entry” signs and road markings and took a short cut down a slip-road.

PCSO James Graham said: “We had a complaint from residents about it happening in the early hours of the morning.

“We changed our shift patterns slightly so we started earlier and were therefore able to catch people in the act.”

Six people were giving tickets for ignoring the no entry signs during the operation on March 4.

The punishment for failing to comply with road signs is a fine of up to £1,000 and three penalty points.

“We will go back out there if we hear of people doing it again,” PCSO Graham warned.

“We would also like to appeal to people to come forward with other concerns like this so we can act on them.”

He added that they were aware of problems with parking in Steeple Bumpstead and this would be something they were going to tackle.

PCSO Graham took over from Brian “Eddy” Edwards after he retired at the end of last year.

To contact the Neighbourhood Policing Team, email james.graham@essex.pnn.police.uk or call 07792 814495.