Traffic “peacekeepers” are to be posted at one of the most congested roads in the county in an effort to keep vehicles moving and improve air quality.

In the run-up to the busy Christmas period, a team of three bus drivers kitted out in “traffic control” yellow jackets will patrol the area near Brighton’s Churchill Square Shopping Centre.

With a roving brief to respond to sudden congestion or incidents in the city centre, there will be no job too small for the trio.

From directing traffic to helping people board buses to asking drivers to turn their engines off, the hope is that it will make life easier for everyone.

Brighton and Hove Bus Company has agreed to foot the bill for the three-month trial, which is expected to cost £35,000 and will start today.

Martin Harris, the firm’s managing director, said: “This initiative is part of a number of simple measures to improve air quality by helping both colleagues and other road users to reduce congestion.

“These should also improve our service to our customers, and each of these measures will make a small but important contribution to making the city centre environment better for everyone.”

Council backing The move is part of a number of measures the firm is introducing in the city centre to improve air quality and help eliminate the spikes in emissions that occur.

Currently hundreds of buses an hour pass through the Churchill Square corridor.

In addition to helping bus passengers and advising drivers, their help will be available to taxi users and drivers as well as delivery drivers.

The move has been backed by Brighton and Hove City Council, Sussex Police, cycling groups and taxi firms.

Steve Percy, of motoring lobby group People’s Parking Protest, said: “I think there’s a situation at the moment where we have too many buses.

“It’s not unusual to see four or five buses on the same route backed up behind each other.”

Mr Harris said: “This is a trial and we will be learning lessons as it proceeds.

“What I can promise is that we will learn from experience and will listen to the views of other agencies whose enthusiasm and support has been really encouraging, as well as the ideas of all road users with whom we share this busy space.”