HIGHWAYS bosses are set to introduce a ban on people completing u-turns to avoid the town centre bus lane.

Essex Highways has taken repeated steps to try to prevent vehicles from turning into Lewis Gardens, Colchester, to access Queen Street.

It previously installed a traffic island and bollards to try to stop the problem, but found motorists still used the junction.

Motorists make the turn from East Hill to avoid the High Street bus lane, which has caught more than 60,000 drivers and drawn in almost £2million in revenue for Essex County Council since 2013.

But that is all about to change. This is everything you need to know about the impending ban.

What is changing and what will it mean?

A traffic regulation order will be enforced as soon as accompanying signs are put in place.

From then on, motorists can be investigated by Essex Police and prosecuted if caught making the u-turn.

Access to and from Lewis Gardens, including Firstsite and the other properties in Lewis Gardens, will not be adversely affected by these safety measures.

Why does it need to be implemented?

The council’s record of accidents at Lewis Gardens has recorded four incidents between October 2013 and September 2018.

In one crash in July 2018, a 72-year-old woman was seriously injured when she was involved in a collision with a car carrying out the manoeuvre.

The u-turns have been described as dangerous.

What does the council say?

Kevin Bentley, Essex County Council's infrastructure boss, said: “U-turn prohibition for Lewis Gardens has now been advertised and agreed. Once sealed, this order will make it an offence to carry out a U-turn in the High Street 60 metres either side of the Lewis Gardens junction.

"The intention of the order, as with the building of the traffic island and bollards at the junction, is to prevent drivers performing dangerous U-turns across the junction which is often busy with pedestrians and cyclists.

"Enforcement, as with all such traffic orders, will be a matter for Essex Police.”