Streets paved with gold: Drivers fined £7million at one junction in 4 months
ALMOST £7million in fines has been handed to motorists at a single junction in London in four months.
Restrictions have been imposed at Bank Junction – a six-way intersection in the heart of the capital’s financial district – as part of a trial safety scheme.
New rules mean all vehicles except for buses and bikes are banned from driving through the area – one of the most dangerous in London – on weekdays between 7am and 7pm. But a Freedom of Information request by the Mail has found that since the scheme began, thousands have been caught crossing the intersection, generating millions in fines.
Drivers have claimed that they were unaware of the restrictions – with one motorist even managing to receive more than ten fines.
Between May 22 and September 17 this year, 106,357 fines were issued. The total cost of the penalty charges – charged at £130, or £65 if paid within 14 days – has reached £6,913,205. Of those, the number of unpaid fines is worth £1,996,800. The money goes to the City of London Corporation, the authority enforcing the scheme.
Tory MP Julian Knight, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel, questioned if targeting drivers was reasonable. He said: ‘Everyone recognises this is an accident black spot, but is the only answer just slap fines on motorists?’
Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK Campaign, described the scheme as another ‘cash grab’, while taxi drivers say they have been hit particularly hard. Richard Massett, chairman of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, said taxis had been ‘excluded from one of the most critical junctions in the City’.
A driver who claimed he received ten fines said: ‘I came home from work one day to find a large bundle of fines, charging me over £1,200.
‘When I saw that I had to pay such a huge amount of money I started to panic ... it was more than a month’s rent’.
The scheme was implemented after 26-year-old cyclist Ying Tao was killed on the junction in 2016.
The City of London Corporation said the junction ‘has a high collision and casualty record that requires critical improvements’.
A spokesman said: ‘Our number one priority for the experimental scheme at Bank Junction is to improve safety ... We have made every effort to inform the public of the traffic restrictions.’