More than £1m in bus lane fines - but offences falling

MOTORISTS illegally driving in Leicester’s bus-only zones have been fined more than £1 million over the past 12 months.

Figures released by the city council show 44,572 penalty notices were issued to drivers who broke the law by using bus lanes and gates between November 2018 and November 2019.

There are 14 bus lanes and bus gates enforced across the city, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

They include two in Charles Street near the bus station, as well as Rutland Street, Causeway Lane, Lutterworth Road (at its junction with Soar Valley Way, and again at Middleton Street), as well as Horsefair Street and Thurcaston Road.

Enforcement was brought in at six more sites during September and October last year, including inbound and outbound sites at Duns Lane, Lutterworth Road at Marsden Lane, Humberstone Road, Abbey Street and Narborough Road.

At each site, the council says the number of offences dropped once camera enforcement began, indicating that it has deterred motorists from using the bus gates or lanes as shortcuts to avoid queueing.

At Horsefair Street in the city, 6,200 offences were recorded during the first month of enforcement in February 2017, which had fallen to 324 in November 2019 – a drop of around 95 per cent.

At Thurcaston Road, the number of fines has been slashed from 1,152 in April 2018 to just 235 in November 2019, while at the new outbound site at Duns Lane, offences have fallen from 5,149 in October 2019 to 1,601 a month later.

Offences have also continued to fall at Lutterworth Road, Soar Valley Way and Middleton Street sites, where they are down by between a half and three quarters in the past 12 months.

All the income from bus lane enforcement is ring-fenced to be re-invested in the city’s highways to pay for services such as pothole repairs and resurfacing work.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: “The majority of the city’s bus lane enforcement has been in place for over 18 months now, and are clearly signposted to motorists so they know to avoid them, which the vast majority do.

“From the outset I was clear that we would expect to see the number of offences reducing over time, once people got used to the enforcement being in place.

“However, some motorists continue to flout the law and as such do incur fines for doing so.

“Having clear, unobstructed bus lanes is key to having an efficient, public transport service in the city, and so enforcement is an important way in tackling this, as well as ensuring that all the money raised from enforcement goes back into paying for the city’s transport infrastructure.”