It was the end of the road for a transport official sent to count traffic - in a deserted cul-de-sac! When the brief came through it was clear - go to a road in Birmingham and check the traffic flow as part of a detailed road survey. But by the end of a long 12 hour shift sitting in deck chairs and sipping tea, the hapless car counters can't have had much to report. For the road chosen by the Department of Transport is a quiet cul-de-sac in a leafy corner of Moseley, where the heaviest traffic was a mum going to the shops and back. Stunned families in Elizabeth Road were amazed to find the men from the ministry staking out their road. Christine Wallis, aged 50, said: "When I approached them they told me they had been sent here to count traffic. They were very nice but they also thought it was a waste of time. "This is a cul-de-sac and no traffic comes up here so I don't understand why they were here. I think it's scandalous and a waste of money, you can't get speeding traffic in a cul-de-sac." The seemingly pointless exercise could end up costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds. Mrs Wallis said: "They counted the same car going up and down ten times. It was just residents going to the shop or to pick up children from school. "Obviously you had the wages for the pair of them for the day as well as their travel costs and what their company was paid." The two workers were retired teachers employed by London research company Vincent Knight who contract themselves out to local councils and Government organisations. A company spokesman said: "We are given a map reference by the Department for Transport to check the flow of traffic. We check the flow on certain types of roads across the spectrum." And the Department for Transport was adamant that this was far from a pointless exercise maintaining that different kinds of traffic flow need to be assessed. A spokesperson said: "We make road traffic estimates and one source is manual traffic counts counting various traffic flows." But Mrs Willis said: "I am still amazed. I can understand if they were counting a residential road but this is a cul-de-sac that doesn't go anywhere." E-mail us and tell us what you think | 
