I think there is something wrong (again) with the timing of these lights. The green phase for traffic turning out of Dartmouth Road on to the South Circular was only fifteen seconds long this evening, producing a very tedious queue on Dartmouth Road northbound. Does anyone happen to know how best to report this?
Please can others call TFL and ask them to do something. I’ve called about 10 times and still they’re not right. They have logged it as both a possible hardware and phasing fault. One tfl guy said all the phasing of the lights across the junction are out and it would be a big job - but that was weeks ago.
Was called by TFL yesterday to say that it was a fault with the traffic sensor which has now been rectified and asked if we have noticed a difference. I said I’d have a look and get back to them.
Thank you!
Your numerous calls paid off & down to you all is back to normal now 
Excellent. Thanks Pauline. Tfl were very slow to fix this time.
It seems they are not working properly again. Traffic along London Road terrible - has been for weeks. Seems to me the possible culprit is the pedestrian crossing light from the London Road corner going across towards Dartmouth Road which is staying on green for far longer than previously. The result is less time for vehicles to turn left towards Catford. I have reported to TfL, but it takes 10 days to get a reply. Anyone else worth contacting (local councillor etc?)
The northbound traffic on Dartmouth Road also seems a lot slower in the mornings than usual. I had thought it might be some sort of knock-on from the (still continuing?) roadworks at the junction of Sydenham Hill and Sydenham Rise, but perhaps it too is in fact caused by a problem with the lights by the station.
I’d tended to assume that TfL routinely monitor traffic flows and take action automatically if anything needs sorting. Am I being naive?⁶
I had a friend who worked at TfL for a while.
He said they monitor and model most of the traffic systems and use that to come up with changes to improve the traffic flow. Proposed changes are evaluated against the models with previous captured data, and when things look good the changes start to be implemented working from the edge of London and moving gradually inwards. Predictions from the model are verified as they go, stopping and rolling back if things don’t match up.
I’m not sure how long it takes them to roll out a set of changes, but I got the impression it was a on scale of weeks to fully implement changes.
Perhaps this is a case of it going wrong, or just good old human error!
Yes We’ve noticed since the phasing has changed at junction of London Rd and Dartmouth road the traffic has been horrendous!
Didn’t seem quite so bad yesterday?
There are also roadworks up near the Horniman where one of the lanes is shutdown - this is causing traffic to back up all down the South Circ past FH station…
From TfL today.
Ref: 14316392
5 December 2019
Thank you for your feedback form of 30 November about the phasing on the traffic light on Dartmouth Road through Forest Hill been too quick.
I’m sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you and I appreciate the time you’ve taken to inform us.
I have raised this with our traffic signal team and they will investigate this as soon as possible.
I trust this information has been helpful.
Thanks again for contacting us. If there is anything else we can help you with, please reply to this email. Alternatively, you can call us on 0343 222 1234 and we’ll be happy to help you.
Kind regards
Timi Shonibare
Customer Service Adviser
Transport for London Customer Services
Seems to have improved the last day or so. Email (below) from TfL saying the light sequences have been adjusted.
Thank you for your email of 9 December about the junction of London Road, Devonshire Road and Dartmouth Road.
I’m sorry that your journeys have been delayed travelling through this junction, and I appreciate the time you’ve taken to raise your concerns about this junction with us.
Following your enquiry, one of our engineers has looked at the operation of the junction and made changes to ensure that each approach is given an appropriate amount of green signal time. We will continue to monitor this junction, especially as traffic levels return to normal following the Christmas period.
Please rest assured that we’ll take any appropriate actions to keep traffic moving as smoothly as possible at this busy junction.
I trust that this has addressed your concerns.
Thanks again for contacting us. If there is anything else we can help you with, please reply to this email. Alternatively, you can call us on 0343 222 1234 and we’ll be happy to help you.
Kind regards
Claire Alabdalla
Customer Service Adviser
Transport for London Customer Services