Ridiculed signs signalling a little-known hamlet on the A120 have been hailed as a success by the hamlet’s residents.

The signs, pointing out that you are driving through Surrex, east of Coggeshall, near the Houchin’s Lane junction, were installed in December after Witham MP Priti Patel called for safety improvements.

She felt the measure, which aims to make people aware that there are junctions nearby, could save lives.

However, Graham Butland, leader of Braintree Council, described the signs as “nonsense” and suggested that signs showing the boundary of the Braintree district were needed instead.

However a spokesman for the Save Lives Not Time campaign, who lives in the hamlet, said the signs had dramatically improved the safety of the A120 at the junction.

He said: “There has been a huge improvement, I thought that the two signs on their own probably wouldn’t do much but people have slowed right down."

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.