Welcome to Scotland: Drivers from 23 countries booked in bus lanes

Multinational victims of June’s £760,000 ticket blitz

Motorists from more than 20 countries were trapped in the infamous bus lanes in Scotland’s biggest city in just one month this summer.

Glasgow, which has long held the title of Scotland’s bus lane capital, issued 6,510 tickets in June – with 60% going to postcodes outside the city.

Tickets were also sent to drivers in 23 countries outwith the UK, with dozens going to the US, Canada and Australia.

The £ 60 fines were also sent to drivers in Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia, Montenegro and Singapore.

A total of 12,690 fines – worth £760,000 – were issued in June across Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, the three Scottish cities that operate bus-lane cameras.

A majority of tickets issued in Edinburgh and Aberdeen in June

were to cars local to those cities – with no fines sent abroad from either city. The data, obtained by The Sunday Post under a Freedom of Information request, shows the postcode area with most fines issued in Glasgow was GU11 in Hampshire – the location of a car hire firm’s HQ. Thomas Kerr, Conservative group leader at Glasgow City Council, said: “These numbers put Glasgow’s reputation as a welcoming world- class city in serious jeopardy if visitors can’t even navigate our streets because of the condition of our road signage.” The AA, which condemned the figures, has repeatedly blamed poor signage for the high number of fines issued in Glasgow.

AA president Edmund King said: “This ground- breaking research by The Sunday Post proves what the AA has long suspected: visitors, in particular to Glasgow, are sitting ducks under the cameras of the councils’ bus-lane enforcers. A principal cause is inadequacy of bus-lane signage. “We know of a case last year where an Edinburgh lady picked up three Glasgow bus lane tickets within minutes while trying to find somewhere to set down her disabled sister.

“Her main complaint was poor signage around Glasgow’s Nelson Mandela Place bus gate.

“The lady resolved never to visit Glasgow again, a view held by many whose enduring memory of a visit to the city is an unfair ticket.”

The AA said it supported “well- planned and well- signed bus l anes” and backed warning letters for firsttime offenders with fines for anyone who re-offends. More than 93,000 fines were by Glasgow’s 16 cameras last year worth £5.6m.

The c a m e ra a t Ne l s o n Mandela Place is Scotland’s highest grossing, with more than 50 fines a day – a total last year of 20,000 fines worth £1.2m.

There were 28,886 fines issued in Aberdeen last year worth more than £ 1.7m while Edinburgh saw 28,855 people fined. Drivers are issued with a £ 60 penalty, reduced to £30 if paid in 14 days. Fines rise to £90 if unpaid in 28 days. Sandra Macdonald, Aberdeen City Council’s transport spokeswoman, said: “Restrictions are vital to ensuring a managed flow of traffic and that is the prime aim of the cameras.”

Edinburgh City Council’s transport and environment convener, Lesley Macinnes, said: “Bus lanes in Edinburgh are clearly marked and signed, so we would expect people to drive with due care and attention to these restrictions.”

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “In making the decision to drive abroad, tourists need to ensure they drive within the laws and regulations pertaining to the country they are visiting. The AA website has useful advice to drivers visiting different countries.”