Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Fine times ahead for city’s drivers?
Motorists warned not to park in Glider lanes
MOTORISTS parking in new 12-hour bus lanes yesterday got a fright when yellow tickets appeared on their windscreens. The penalty notices were a warning to drivers they will be fined for parking on West Belfast’s Andersonstown Road from August 6. The Belfast Rapid Transit Glider service will not begin until September 3 but the lanes opened yesterday as a “soft start” during the quiet summer period.
Anyone parked illegally over the next fortnight may find their windscreen slapped with a dreaded yellow ticket.
However, it will be a one-strike warning and they will not have to pay the £90 fine unless they do it again.
The Department for Infrastructure said: “A one-strike warning period will be in place until Monday August 6, during which time drivers parking or driving illegally in bus lanes will be issued with a warning notice instead of a Penalty Charge Notice for a first contravention.
“During this two-week warning period the notices will be placed in yellow PCN envelopes and affixed to vehicle windscreens by attendants on patrol.
“Drivers who contravene for a second time will be issued with a PCN.”
The lanes between East Bridge Street and Dunlady Road in East Belfast will be introduced on July 30.
These will be followed by those in the Belfast Harbour Estate and city centre on August 6.