Locals who said they saw 'free one-hour parking' signs outside a pub may have seen fakes.

The Red House in Watford Road, Croxley Green, is bringing in automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to clamp down on non-customers using its car park, after previously operating a pay and display system.

After the move was announced, there were discussions between the Greene King, which owns the pub, and Three Rivers District Council, sparking hopes it might be reversed.

Last week, what appears to have been a false dawn came when locals reported seeing a sign saying there was free parking for stays of less than an hour.

The council confirmed it was told a free one-hour parking sign had been put up but said that it was not contacted or consulted prior to this.

It added that it remained open and keen to work with the pub company on behalf of local businesses and residents.

It is still not totally clear where the signs came from, but The Watford Observer understands handwritten signs may have been put up and then taken down.

What is clear is that any free one-hour parking signs were not genuine.

Multiple social media posts were made about the signs and some locals celebrated the apparent reversal, but others soon replied that they had visited and found it wasn’t the case.

The Greene King pub is just across from the train station and near to a number of shops, so there were fears the change would spark a "parking nightmare" and damage businesses if people have nowhere to park nearby.

The car park’s pay and display system had already been "for patrons only", but people often use it when shopping elsewhere.

A spokesperson for Greene King said: “We want to ensure there is always space for our customers to park when they visit us, which is the reason for making this change.

"Customers will simply need to enter their vehicle registration number when they arrive at the pub and this will be clearly signposted to avoid any confusion.”