BAFFLED motorists are having to navigate a road which has different speed limits in each direction.

Wreaford “Gus” Ray was bewildered to clock new signage on Sutton Road, near Milton, which confusingly limits drivers to 60mph on one side and 40mph on the other.

The 64-year-old said: “I noticed it about four weeks ago and I thought ‘hold on a minute, something isn’t right here’. I couldn’t believe it. The new sign just suddenly appeared.”

The half-mile stretch of road is 20mph slower towards Sutton Courtenay than it is towards Milton.

Mr Ray, an odd-job man and post room worker at Milton Park, travels up and down the road daily to get to work from his home in Sutton Courtenay.

He said: “If there’s a policeman with a speed gun and he’s seen the 40-mile-an-hour limit, you might get pulled over. There’s not even any signage that says there has been a speed limit change. It’s really weird.”

He suggested the lowering of the limit might be justified because of developments being built around Sutton Courtenay, but said there was no reason why it should be different either way.

Kevin Nicholls, who owns HK taxi company in Milton Road: “The speed restriction is bonkers.

“I only noticed it a couple of days ago. If you go into your satnav it still says 60 miles per hour, but all of a sudden they have stuck up a 40 limit. They just plonked it on the side of the road next to the farmers’ field.

“Coming up to Sutton Courtenay it’s causing confusion. Halfway along the road the limit changes for about 200 yards, and then you’re into the 30mph limit.”

Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for setting speed limits in the county, did not respond in time to a request for comment.

Similar speed restrictions have been enforced in other towns to deal with an influx of new housing.

Developer Linden Homes recently built 19 homes in Sutton Road on its Cobblestones estate.

Pye built 24 homes on nearby Milton Road in an estate called Sutton Fields.

Redrow Homes was granted permission last year to build its 64-home Asquith Park on the same road, with traffic calming measures set as a condition of its approval.