See update at the bottom of this post!
Southwark Council have decided to add some “except cycles” signs to the junction of Steedman Street and Walworth Road, but it seems that they spent all their budget elsewhere and had to scrape together to buy the smallest ones they could…
Can you see them?
Ah, there it is!
The irony is that the cycle exemption signs here are completely unnecessary anyway – cyclists don’t go between the two no entry signs, but down the cycle bypass to the left of the illuminated bollard. So these signs add nothing of value for cyclists whatsoever, but I’m sure it will look good in their end of year report when the council claims to have installed new cycle contraflows.
Still, it makes a change from authorities actively harming cycling. I’m sure that the cyclists of Waltham Forest would be happier if their council stuck to this sort of zero effect meddling.
So congratulations to Southwark Council for installing the most pointless but harmless cycle infrastructure of the month!
Update: I’ve been told that these signs have in fact been in place since 2003, which means that they were illegal for eight years! I’d assumed they’d been added with the changes to the regulations in 2011. Either way, they’ve never been necessary as cyclist heading in that direction never passed between the signs, but down the cycle path to the left.
The Alternative Department for Transport is written by, and the personal opinion of, 
That plate has been there since at least 2003 in the days when this sort of design wasn’t understood..go on report it to the council and they might remove it under anti clutter program.
Are you sure they’ve been there that long? I only ask this because the DfT only approved the “except cycles” sign last year. Maybe that’s why they’re so small, the council wanted to keep it a secret!
The signs do no harm — and they’re so tiny that I don’t think they add to street clutter!