I feel like I’ve been mugged by council

Like many other Bath residents, I recently received a penalty fine for the newly installed bus gate at the top of Milsom Street which I had simply failed to notice.

I sent an appeal to the council almost immediately who then took an unacceptable two months to reply. Needless to say, my challenge was rejected and by that time, and because of their slowness to reply, the initial fine of £30 (if paid within two weeks) had now doubled to £60.

I’m left feeling as though I’ve been mugged by Bath council. I can come to no conclusion other than they want Bath motorists to infringe motoring rules so that they can collect more fines. Why, for instance, don’t they send round an email to all central Bath parking permit holders alerting them to upcoming changes to rules? They have our email addresses so this could be easily done.

There is a sinister subtext to this. The council says that the restriction was put in place as a response to the Covid pandemic.

When I wrote asking for their reassurance that this would be a temporary measure and lifted once the pandemic is over, I received the reply that it is ‘a temporary measure at present but that is subject to change where the council might make the decision to keep it running.’

So that is not good news for all the shops on Milsom Street struggling to survive after the pandemic and relying on people being able to park nearby and pop in easily.

I would have thought B&NES should be going out of its way to support local businesses now.

Lucy Newark Central Bath resident