Bus lane fine

[SleeplessinSeattle53]

Has anyone successfully appealed a bus lane/gate fine?

I've been sent a penalty notice for driving in a 'bus gate' (what even is that?) but there are no road markings visible and I'm overtaking some roadworks so had to be in that lane temporarily.

I've sent an appeal off - do they put the time they give you on hold to pay at the cheaper price?

Am bloody fuming, the city I live in is getting worse and worse for this kind of thing. There's barely anywhere that allows cars any more.

I knew this would be Leeds! I know so many people that have been fined recently. I avoid the centre completely

@MrReflection thankyou I've just had a look. Still hard to tell. If the bus gate bit is just the red block of road then I was forced there because of roadworks. If it's the whole stretch of road then I'm screwed.

Are you in Bristol by any chance?

Never mind just saw you’re in Leeds.

we got caught on bus gate camera recently, I had never heard of one before. We’ve appealed as we’d been rerouted through roadworks and this was only way we could go

I feel your pain, I don’t drive in Sheffield at all now and will only go in for work. They’re shooting themselves in the foot I think with these schemes.

@ChocolateCakeOverspill I think that's what the local councils want though. A traffic free city centre. I wouldn't mind if I lived on a decent bus route but I don't. My bus into the city is £4 each way, there's one bus an hour (if it turns up) and it takes 45 mins to travel 6 miles.

They’re shooting themselves in the foot I think with these schemes.

thr traffic reducing scheme seems to work just as intended.

How long do these fines take to come through?
Just read the Manchester article and think I could have been caught out hopefully not more than twice in the same day
Thanks in advance x

Sorry I was sent clear, I don’t think people are going into the city centres unless they have to as a result of this. Businesses are closing all over the city centre and they’re having to invest millions to re-energise it.

The park and ride is terrible, there aren’t enough spaces to park and actually a few of them are in out of town shopping areas so there’s no reason to then mess about getting a tram or bus because everything you would go into town for is right there.

@SequinsandStiIettos my letter came through today and I was caught on 23/8.

I'm so sorry. I'd have been caught out too. I might have got away with it as I was In Manchester before the 23rd. We'll see.

Single journeys on a bus have been capped at £2 for almost a year now, through all of England

For me it arrived after a week. I paid up out of fear (had just passed my test and was scared) but after googling realised I was an idiot to not have appealed. Nice money spinner for the council.

@MistyMountainTop I didn't know that. But it doesn't get over the problem of unreliability, not enough buses and how bloody long it takes to get into the city.

Exactly.
Sorry I know that's not the point of these threads, but these hare-brained schemes involve magical thinking r.e how to get around without cars. None of the decision makers seem to realise that people will just stay home, resulting in businesses closing, meaning less rates, etc. Yes we need to protect the environment but people also need to live their lives.

Why don't they put that re-energisement money towards buses that actually run with reasonable frequency?

This is another reason why you need a dashcam.

You can review at home what the signs said and how you had to divert round the roadworks. You'd have evidence to appeal the fine.

I won't drive without a working dashcam!

I think this might be useful from what the circumstances are. Good luck.

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/politics/council/northampton-motorist-wins-appeal-against-council-over-bus-lane-fine-after-going-into-lane-to-avoid-van-turning-right-into-garage-3306350

They are absolute fuckers, but definitely appeal!

They have to keep the 'half price' period open until they've given you a decision either way. My success rate is about 50%, so it's worth trying...

I've appealed one successfully before (not Leeds). There was scaffolding up on a building right next to the bus lane so I couldn't see the high signage, and it was raining so with the wet ground I was slow to spot the road markings. I was only on the lane about a second before I realised and got back out. On the photo they sent me you could see I was indicating to pull right again, but the driver behind me had raced forwards so I couldn't immediately.

Anyway, I'm guessing it was the scaffold that was the actual extenuating circumstance. But they let me off.

Did you drive in under the bridge, coming in from Bridgewater place? You can’t drive under the bridge in that direction at all now, the bus gate road markings just show where it starts, but the whole road through to city square is buses only.

To drop at the train station you need to come in from Whitehall Road, so taking an earlier junction off the M621 and come in past Yorkshire Post building or past Dunelm and go back out that way.

I doubt you’ll have much chance of appealing, the new system has been in a while now and is relatively well sign posted (even though Bus Gate is an under used and confusing term, there’s lots of signage to say no cars/buses and taxis only).

@Snittle no it was at the top end of town. And this particular restriction has only been in place since June - I looked it up. Not really ages when you don't drive into Leeds that often.

Ah, I’m not sure of the signage out that way but I’m pretty sure Whitehall Road is the only way in and out of the station now, and it is a nightmare - I work on the Bridgewater side of the bus gates so can luckily still just nip off the 621 but don’t envy anyone wanting to get anywhere else!!

There’s been a bus gate over the bridge at the bottom of The Calls for years, and I just have driven over it 100 times not knowing what it meant. I’m lucky there was no camera as it’s only now we’ve got all these new ones I realised I wasn’t supposed to be doing it (and I was never the only car!).

@Snittle yeah I went in the correct way. It was the way out where I got unstuck 🙁

So this one
https://twitter.com/ConnectingLeeds/status/1671169992996585474/photo/2

https://news.leeds.gov.uk/resources/joxzj-qsmvz-bf6i2-j37xz-w172d

Bus gates seem to have been introduced generally with little consultation - they're not in the highway code and are set up by a simple traffic order.

It feels like they have double benefits for councils in that they don't require road markings in the road beyond the gate, unlike bus lanes, and garner more money in fines because of their unfamiliarity.

I got caught 3 times in the same day in Bristol - basically because I didn't understand these things mean "start of bus lane" with no other vehicles permitted. I appealed 3 and got it reduced to one and I note that all fines were quashed recently: https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2021-08-09/bristol-bus-gate-fines-quashed-over-poor-warning-signs
When I first saw them I thought they were some special form of 'bus access' the adjacent normal bus lane prohibition signs are basically invisible because you are used to seeing Lane markings on the road.

Anyway this site has lots of info: