UP to 40 unauthorised vehicles an hour are using a town centre road which has been closed for five months, it has been revealed.

Church Green West has been closed to traffic to allow for a temporary bus station to operate for 18 months.

It was shut while work to build a transport interchange, including a department store and a health complex, was completed on the site of the former bus station.

But during a town centre partnership meeting Austin Birks, commercial manager for bus company First Midland Red, said: "In one hour the Saturday before last, 40 vehicular movements were recorded. We are still getting a problem."

Drivers are still using the road, despite police launching an operation to target persistent offenders in February.

The Redditch Advertiser reported that police would be giving out fixed penalty fines of £30.

A spokesman for Kingfisher Centre owners Thornfield said: "We can only do so much short of having someone supervising the road 24 hours a day. There have been a lot of signs put up but people are still ignoring them."

He added: "We would urge people to use another route from a safety point of view. There are many passengers getting off and on buses."

Inspector Gareth Prosser, of Redditch police, said: "We are still carrying on with high visibility patrols and traffic wardens."