Bus Driver Is Fined £70 For Driving A BUS In A Bus Lane

[duncanp]

No, this isn't an April Fool's joke.

A driver got fined £70 for driving in a bus lane.

Nothing wrong with that, you might think, except that the driver was driving, er, a bus at the time.

Some councils seem to treat automatic cameras leading to fines as a licence to print money.

I’m a bus driver - the council fined me £70 for a hilarious reason

A BUS driver has been slapped with a fine for a hilarious reason prompting the bus company to frame the latter. Bus company Connexions, which operates in West and North Yorkshire, received the pena…

www.thesun.co.uk

ALL ABOARD

I’m a bus driver – the council fined me £70 for a hilarious reason and I’m having the letter framed​

A BUS driver has been slapped with a fine for a hilarious reason prompting the bus company to frame the latter.

Bus company Connexions, which operates in West and North Yorkshire, received the penalty charge after one of their buses entered a bus lane in Leeds.

Leeds City Council asked the company to pay a £70 fine in 28 days, reduced if paid within 14 days.

Speaking to the BBC, the owner of the company Connexions bus, Craig Temple said: "I've heard of other companies in the country where it's happened, but it's never happened with us."

"It's a bus that we've not long bought so it's not in our colours yet, but it's still registered as a bus."

Craig sarcastically said the council deserved 'top marks' for the observation and added the fine system doesn't work.

The fine included a picture of the bus picking up passengers at a bus stop.

It said that the vehicle was fined because it was driving in a bus lane during restricted hours, despite it being a bus.

"I'm going to frame the letter and put it in the office," Mr Temple joked.

Leeds city council has apologised for the error and has cancelled the fine.

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council told the BBC: "The ticket was issued in error and has now been cancelled.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

The fine has gone viral on social media and some users have expressed how surprised they were after finding out that the bus was fined.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I saw this elsewhere and supposedly it was because the bus's plate hadn't been registered with the Council, and it was cancelled on appeal. However, the bus lane in question (I found it on Google Maps) is an unrestricted bus lane (the bus pictogram doesn't contain the word "local" which would restrict it to registered local bus services), thus is legally usable by anyone driving a vehicle with 9 or more passenger seats excluding the driver. So I'm not quite sure why they are doing this rather than looking up the DVLA data to see the vehicle's class.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Some councils seem to treat automatic cameras leading to fines as a licence to print money.

Except that the council's position was...

Leeds city council has apologised for the error and has cancelled the fine.

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council told the BBC: "The ticket was issued in error and has now been cancelled.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

It's an automated system and clearly there was a glitch, and it's been sorted. It's an amusing "and finally" story and nothing more... I guess it was a slow news day and there were no skateboarding ducks in Scunthorpe to feature instead.

 

[GusB]

I think this was previously mentioned in the "In other news" thread, but it does seem rather silly on the face of it. No doubt it will be cleared up quickly, if it hasn't already been sorted. What would be really stupid is if the council was to stick to its guns and chase up the penalty. No local council in the UK would so that, surely...

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I think this was previously mentioned in the "In other news" thread, but it does seem rather silly on the face of it. No doubt it will be cleared up quickly, if it hasn't already been sorted. What would be really stupid is if the council was to stick to its guns and chase up the penalty. No local council in the UK would so that, surely...

It has indeed, by @Baxenden Bank. Post #748. See link...

The "And in other news..." thread

I didn’t want to waste a whole thread on this appalling grifter so this seems like a good place to put it. Looks like reality finally caught up with Alex Jones: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62444302 Has there ever been a bigger sum in damages ordered against one person before...

www.railforums.co.uk

Bottom most paragraph of the BBC's version of the news story suggests that the matter may already have been sorted.

Extract:-

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: "The ticket was issued in error and has now been cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Leeds bus fined for being in bus lane to get to bus stop

Leeds City Council sent the company a fine, despite their photo clearly showing a bus.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[XAM2175]

I would have expected they'd do a perfunctory check of each fine before sending it, at least.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I would have expected they'd do a perfunctory check of each fine before sending it, at least.

You'd think so, but they are probably sent fully automatically by a print-stuff-and-frank machine, whatever they're called.

 

[SSmith2009]

A bit like this one from July 2020

Bus driver gets £70 parking ticket while at bus stop

'To ticket a bus in a bus stop is unbelievable really, utterly ridiculous'

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

Bus driver gets £70 parking ticket while at bus stop in town centre

A bus driver has been given a parking ticket while at a bus stop in a town centre.

The driver of the Centrebus number 44 was given the £70 fixed penalty in The Square in Market Harborough on Monday morning.

Operator Centrebus has branded it “crazy” after a warden slapped the ticket on the vehicle at 9.03am and appealed the fine.

The company said the driver left the bus at the stop on The Square for a few minutes to get himself some food and drink.

Mick Rossiter, operations manager for Centrebus Leicester, said: “To ticket a bus in a bus stop is unbelievable really, utterly ridiculous.

“Many of our services have ‘lay-over’ time which requires buses to remain at bus stops for a short period of time.

“The driver has literally left it for a few minutes to get some lunch for later on in the day.

During the pandemic our drivers are working very hard to get people around, along with the risks associated with it, and this is the last thing they need.”

Mr Rossiter said the number 44, which starts in Foxton and goes to Fleckney and outlying villages via the town centre, has been parking up at that spot for years.

“As long as I can remember the bus has been stopping there between 8.57am and 9.14am and there has never been a problem,” he said.

“All of a sudden a driver gets a ticket. Crazy.

“He is angry about it and I am even angrier. It makes no sense to penalise him for doing his job serving the community.

“We have appealed the ticket.”

Leicestershire County Council is responsible for parking enforcement and one of its staff issued the ticket.

Councillor Trevor Pendleton, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Our parking officers are trained to observe parking offences and establish whether there is a legitimate reason for issuing a parking penalty.

“In this instance, the bus was parked at a bus stop unattended and therefore a ticket was issued.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I would have expected they'd do a perfunctory check of each fine before sending it, at least.

It'll be fully automated and that system works pretty damn well. Think - this is one isolated instance (and so newsworthy) vs how many separate vehicle movements per day?

 

[Tetchytyke]

You'd think so, but they are probably sent fully automatically by a print-stuff-and-frank machine, whatever they're called.

They are, which is why a set of fake plates is such a "good" investment and why it also causes a lot of pain to whichever poor soul had their plates cloned.

 

[XAM2175]

It'll be fully automated and that system works pretty damn well. Think - this is one isolated instance (and so newsworthy) vs how many separate vehicle movements per day?

How many of those movements produce infringement notices, though?

I've been involved in setting up and maintaining automated systems in the utilities industry and this is the exact sort of circumstance where I'd have somebody just flipping quickly through the results of a batch on the off-chance such an obvious error crept in.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

How many of those movements produce infringement notices, though?

I've been involved in setting up and maintaining automated systems in the utilities industry and this is the exact sort of circumstance where I'd have somebody just flipping quickly through the results of a batch on the off-chance such an obvious error crept in.

Exactly - how many have been produced?

A large number of erroneous ones? If so, that would constitute a juicy news story.

Or the odd rogue one that, by dint of its exceptional nature, is considered newsworthy?

Even if you do a random sample, every chance you’d miss an instance.

For Leeds, they had 138k bus lane fines in 2019/20. Only 135 got appealed - 0.098%. Of those, more than half were refused. So is it a big problem? I’d say not

 

[XAM2175]

For Leeds, they had 138k bus lane fines in 2019/20. Only 135 got appealed - 0.098%. Of those, more than half were refused. So is it a big problem? I’d say not

No, evidently lot!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

No, evidently lot!

So less than 0.05% is a lot. 60 tickets overturned out of 138k is a lot?

Employing at least one person at £30k to do a random check that might uncover an issue of £3.6k? Hmmm…

 

[XAM2175]

So less than 0.05% is a lot. 60 tickets overturned out of 138k is a lot?

Employing at least one person at £30k to do a random check that might uncover an issue of £3.6k? Hmmm…

That was a spectacularly-unlucky typo of "evidently not"

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

That was a spectacularly-unlucky typo of "evidently not"

Fair enough - I did think it odd. Thanks for clarifying

 

[XAM2175]

Fair enough - I did think it odd. Thanks for clarifying

Yeah sorry, of all the possible typos I just had to choose the right belter

 

[L401CJF]

The automated fast tag lanes at the Mersey tunnels dont get along with my brothers preserved Dennis Dart. If you pull up at the toll with a bus fast tag in the window it says "Invalid tag class" on the info screen and if you try and register it on their newish T-Flow (ANPR toll payment via an online account) website it comes up as a car! We just go through the attended lane now so they manually put it through as a bus. I did wonder if it was because we changed the tax class to Private Light Goods, but thinking back it was doing it before we did that!

 

[AlterEgo]

I was given a penalty at a box junction near Stratford last year. They sent me video evidence of me using the box junction correctly to turn right, and it was cancelled on appeal. No idea how it got to the stage of being issued.

 

[nw1]

A bit like this one from July 2020

Bus driver gets £70 parking ticket while at bus stop

'To ticket a bus in a bus stop is unbelievable really, utterly ridiculous'

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

I note that Leics County Council appeared to be very much more arrogant and unapologetic in their tone than Leeds City Council were in the case currently being discussed, and the councillor quoted in this article, to me, sounds like a prize idiot with absolutely no common sense. Sadly, he was re-elected in 2021.

 

[Man of Kent]

I note that Leics County Council appeared to be very much more arrogant and unapologetic in their tone than Leeds City Council were in the case currently being discussed, and the councillor quoted in this article, to me, sounds like a prize idiot with absolutely no common sense. Sadly, he was re-elected in 2021.

Studying Google Streetview shows that these are marked as Bus Stops, not Bus Stands. The law only allows a limited time on a bus stop, so the ticket was issued correctly. It could be resolved by reclassifying the stops as Bus Stands.

(The law in question being Schedule 7, Part 6, Section 1 of the

Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016​

(3) The prohibition in sub-paragraph (1) does not apply to the driver of a bus who causes the bus to stop within the clearway for so long as may be necessary—
(a) to maintain a published timetable for the service (provided, in the case of a clearway marked “BUS STOP”, that the bus is not stopped within the clearway for a period exceeding two minutes);
(b) to enable passengers to board or alight from the bus; or
(c) to enable the crew of the bus to be changed.)

 

[nw1]

Studying Google Streetview shows that these are marked as Bus Stops, not Bus Stands. The law only allows a limited time on a bus stop, so the ticket was issued correctly. It could be resolved by reclassifying the stops as Bus Stands.

(The law in question being Schedule 7, Part 6, Section 1 of the

Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016​

(3) The prohibition in sub-paragraph (1) does not apply to the driver of a bus who causes the bus to stop within the clearway for so long as may be necessary—
(a) to maintain a published timetable for the service (provided, in the case of a clearway marked “BUS STOP”, that the bus is not stopped within the clearway for a period exceeding two minutes);
(b) to enable passengers to board or alight from the bus; or
(c) to enable the crew of the bus to be changed.)

Maybe, but it appeared that the bus had been booked to wait 17 mins there for a long time, and had been left alone until this incident.

I'd like to have seen a bit of common sense, in that buses frequently have to wait in town centres for their next journey. I'm quite happy to accept the traffic warden might have made a mistake, but the uncompromising and arrogant attitude of Leicestershire Council is, to me, completely unacceptable.

 

[Man of Kent]

Maybe, but it appeared that the bus had been booked to wait 17 mins there for a long time, and had been left alone until this incident.

I'd like to have seen a bit of common sense, in that buses frequently have to wait in town centres for their next journey. I'm quite happy to accept the traffic warden might have made a mistake, but the uncompromising and arrogant attitude of Leicestershire Council is, to me, completely unacceptable.

As the newspaper article says, there are layover spaces nearby, at the Market Hall slightly to the south. You can even see a Centrebus Solo laying over there on Google Streetview (https://goo.gl/maps/92DUBCPj5sN3b8Ar8) and bonus, it's nearer to Sainsburys for the purchase of food and drink.

Within the constraints of the law as it applies, the ticket was issued correctly, and Leicestershire do not have to defend it. They perhaps should have been criticised for the restriction placed on the stops in the Square, which is "no stopping except for buses 0700-1900". Unfortunately that means that non-local buses can stop there, including anything from a non-psv Ford Transit belonging to a school to a touring coach. At what point should these be ticketed, because they might interfere with the operation of the bus service? Custom and practice of Centrebus may have been to lay over here, but that doesn't make it legally correct.

We've worked with our various local authorities to get bus stops where layover needs to take place redesignated as bus stands, and all marked as except local buses, thus avoiding both what happened here, and the possibility of non-service buses using the stands.