I wrote to Windsor & Maidenhead council about a 'height restriction 1.8m' sign in Alexandra road, Windsor, across the road from a multi-storey car-park. A week or so later I got a 'holding' reply saying it had been passed onto the appropriate person, who would contact me in due course.

In the meantime, the sign has been removed but not replaced with anything (either metric or imperial).

There are other 1.8m signs fixed to the outside wall of the car-park itself, which are still in place. Are they within the law because of where they are?

This seems to be another of those grey areas. We shall look into it and respond.

The following reply has been received by the DETR, dated April 11th, 2001:

"It depends on the particular circumstances whether signs have to meet the requirements of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD). Signs within car parks are not traffic signs within the meaning of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 so they are not required to comply with the TSRGD 1994. Signs provided for the management of traffic on roads and displayed to traffic on public roads before it turns to enter the car park should generally comply with the TSRGD. I think in the case you describe, it depends whether the signs are intended for the traffic on the public road or the traffic entering the car park".

Applied to the signs in Windsor, this reply would appear to suggest that as they are attached to the outside of car parks, and therefore directed at cars on public roads rather than those inside, then the signs are indeed illegal.

I wrote querying the 1.8m sign screwed to the wall of the car park. The council wrote to say they were looking into it. That was the last I heard from them, but about a month later I noticed that the sign had been removed. They didn't replace it with an imperial one, but still, the metric one has gone.