One million bus lane fines handed out each year

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Hugo Griffiths 2018-04-06 12:30

Drivers paying £68 million a year in bus lane fines, with five per cent increase in tickets since 2015

Brits are paying out £68 million in tickets every year after straying into bus lanes, new figures have revealed.

Londoners received the highest number of fines, getting just under a million tickets (994,473) between 2015 and 2017. Drivers in Manchester were second on the list, receiving 352,688 tickets over the same period, while Glaswegians were also heavily ticketed for driving in bus lanes, with 339,402 fines handed out over the three years. In total, 3.4 million bus lane tickers were handed out between 2015 and 2017.

Bus lane fines vary across the country, but the lowest penalty issued is £60. Taking this figure as a basis for its calculations, the RAC, which obtained the data via Freedom of Information requests, calculated Brits are paying out £68 million annually in bus lane fines, shelling out roughly £200 million over three years.

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And while the number of bus lane fines issued in London actually decreased by five per cent between 2015 and 2017, the rest of the country saw 9 per cent more tickets being issued over the same period.

Birmingham saw the sharpest increase in fines issued, with a 2,368 per cent increase, thanks to just 1,287 tickets being issued in 2015, but 31,768 being doled out in 2017. That’s despite, the RAC said, Birmingham experiencing: “no change in either the miles of bus lanes or the number of cameras.”

Simon Williams, a spokesman for the RAC, said bus lanes have a “vital role” in public transport, but said the number of fines being issued meant: “something is awry”.

Williams also added the motoring organisation doesn’t: “believe the vast majority are knowingly breaking the rules”, and said: “more can be done to make it obvious to drivers when they can and can’t drive in one.” Williams suggested improving road signage would form a key part in this, but that ‘smart’ bus lane signs, similar to motorway information signs, would make it easier for drivers to avoid straying into them.

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