ROAD closed signs will have to be concreted into the ground around West Challow after drivers simply moved them out of the way.

The signs have closed Cow Lane, except for access, to stop people using it as a short cut while the A417 at West Challow is shut until early December.

Network Rail is rebuilding Challow Station road bridge as part of its £2bn electrification of the Great Western Main Line from London to Cardiff.

The 7,000 drivers who travel between Wantage and Faringdon a day were told to use a half-hour diversion on the A338 and A420.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Dominic Llewellyn-Jones said: “People were moving the signs away from the highway so people were continuing to drive down the road when it should have been for access only.”

Now the county has asked National Rail to pay to concrete the signs into the ground in the next few days.

Mr Llewellyn-Jones said the council would also carry out traffic surveys to work out the number of people misusing the road.

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