Drivers in Wolverhampton face three months of confusion while work takes place to rip out the city’s controversial red route on the A449 Stafford Road.

It will revert back to its old rules – a mixture of single and double yellow lines – from September 11. The leader of Wolverhampton City Council today said the double red lines banning any stopping on the route – which has cost taxpayers £2.4 million since its launch in March last year – would be the last part of the unpopular policy to go.

And he warned people who flout the rules of the road would be hit with fines as parking wardens step up patrols.

Political rivals today warned of chaos on the dual carriageway, with drivers facing fines for breaking rules they might not even know are in force.

Council leader Neville Patten said: “Work is going to take three to four months before we can put in new arrangements and the red lines will be the last thing to go – the most important thing is to get rid of the signs.

“The road will revert back to the original traffic orders and yellow lines.

“The same parking restrictions will apply until we bring in new traffic regulation orders to reflect the extra parking we created. We will keep people informed of what is happening.”

Councillor Patten said the car parks and crossings created with money from the red route, such as the crossing at Three Tuns, would stay. “The only people who will be affected by the changes will be those who abuse the road by staying longer than they are allowed to”, he insisted.

But Councillor Peter Bilson, former deputy leader of the authority until Labour was ousted in the May elections, today warned the plan had “all the ingredients of an operational nightmare”. “People could end up infringing the law without even knowing because they will be expecting one rule and getting another,” he said. “Wolverhampton has become the laughing stock of the West Midlands because of this decision, which comes at a time when Walsall and other authorities are embracing the idea of red routes.”

Councillors decided to scrap the route following overwhelming public criticism.