13-03-2025
‘Money trap' bus lane must be improved after more than £1m fines in six months, judge rules
A 'money trap' bus lane must be improved after drivers were fined well over £1million in six months, a tribunal judge has ruled.
Bristol city council made £7,400 a day from the section of Cumberland Road between Jan 1 and May 14 last year.
The lane, known as a bus gate, offers buses, bicycles and taxis access to a section of Cumberland Road that is closed to other vehicles.
If a car goes through the bus gate, the driver is given a penalty charge notice (PCN) at a cost of £35. This doubles after two weeks.
Some drivers have blamed Google Maps for still directing banned vehicles along the road despite the words 'Bus Gate' in white lettering on the ground, blue signs displaying the restricted access, and a 'bus lane camera' warning.
Residents argue it is not clear enough and claim it has become a means of financial gain for the council.
Mackenzie Robinson, the adjudicator, has ruled more needs to be done to make the gate clearer to drivers.
A large proportion of fines were given to drivers turning left from Gas Ferry Road, away from the SS Great Britain, Aardman Animation, creators of Wallace & Gromit, and the Floating Harbour.
Mr Robinson said too many drivers are still getting caught out.
He added: 'I must look at the situation as a whole and I am concerned that little use has been made of road markings diverting drivers towards the council's preferred alternative route.
'There are a number of possible measures that can be employed, such as directional arrows, wording on the road surface, broken white lines to delineate the route intended for the main traffic flow and so on.
'It is for the council, with its detailed local knowledge and expertise, to decide what specific measures should be put in place.'
Steven Dickson, a 64-year-old property owner who has lived on the Cumberland Road for 25 years described the bus gate as a 'money trap' and a 'cash cow'.
He told The Telegraph: 'It's a money trap. The local community said they don't want it… It's a cash cow.
'The thing that I take issue with is that when people sign a petition to say they don't want it, the council should listen. Instead, they just tick the boxes and do what they want.
'I really take issue with it. Buses are so infrequent, it's not like the city centre. If you don't know the area, you would drive straight through it.'
He said the 'outrageous' bus gate added an extra 25 minutes to his commute.
'We've been charged lots of times,' said Mr Dickson. 'We've probably paid £600 in fines by now because if I take the time out of my day to do a half-an-hour trip to go home, it's too costly in time.
'It comes down to this: do you pay a fine or do you save time? We went on holiday to Cornwall once, and then came back and found we had a huge fine.'
Last year, more than 1,000 people signed a petition asking the council to remove the bus gate, saying that it negatively impacted the local economy, and the lives and livelihoods of residents and businesses.
John Smith, the council's interim executive director of growth and regeneration, previously said the bus gate would achieve elements of the wider transport policy aspirations of their overall transport strategy.
Matt Sanders, an art director who lives nearby, spent months investigating the bus gate. He compiled a 150-page document outlining all the problems with the signage.
Commenting on the judge's ruling, he said: 'I am very happy with this decision but these are issues that I have raised time and time again over the past 10 months.'
He said that none of the adjudicators had actually come to see the bus gate. They were working remotely, he added, so could not physically see how the signs were confusing given the layout.
Mr Sanders told how the 'bus gate is on an island, which is extremely narrow' and the 'signs do not warn you at the beginning of the road'.
He said: 'You inevitably end up crossing the bus gate.'
The Telegraph has contacted Bristol city council for comment.
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