Motorists have slammed a "crazy" new rule that means they need a permit to drive on a TWENTY METRE stretch of road.

The regulation has been branded a "sly money making scheme" by angry drivers.

Some said that the “nightmare” permit scheme designed to cut traffic in Stoke Newington, north east London, is making people "drive further and pollute more".

Drivers can be charged up to £130 for crossing 'the line' without an HAC01 permit, and so have to make a long detour to avoid the fee.

The 20-metre zone, which is marked with two rainbows in the middle of the road, was installed on September 20 as part of the council’s Rebuilding a Greener Hackney project, partly funded by the London’s Air Quality Fund.

Between the hours of 7am and 7pm, vehicles, except local buses and permit holders, cannot drive down Stoke Newington Church Street.

But business owners and delivery drivers have slammed the toll for making matters worse and their lives more difficult.

One driver caught off guard going through the toll today [WED] said it will cost him his day’s wages.

Finbar Banzhaf-Gammell, 39, a delivery driver from Hackney who went through the zone without realising a permit was required, said: “I come down here every couple of weeks, but I hadn’t got a clue about the fine. It’s horrible.

“That’s pretty much my whole day’s work gone up in smoke.

“We run a small delivery business so, psychologically, it’s horrible when that happens.

“It’s so much money for such a small crime and it’s not even a crime, I just made a mistake.

“So charge me a fiver or something like that, but they’re always trying to catch you out.”