Almost 150 thousand fines handed to motorists caught using the Oxford Road bus lane
Around 1000 penalty notices are being sent everyday to motorists who have been caught
Last updated 26th Feb 2018
Manchester City Council's encouraging people to update their sat navs.
That's how it's responded to calls to put more signs around a bus lane on Oxford Road.
It comes as almost 150-thousand fines have been handed out to motorists who have been caught using it since September last year.
It amounts to almost 1,000 penalty notices being handed out everyday.
Our reporter Amy Scarisbrick has this special report:
Manchester City Council think many motorists are being caught out because they haven't updated their sat nav - which is leading them along the bus lane.
Executive Member for the Environment and Skills, Councillor Angeliki Stogia, said: "The Oxford Road bus gates were introduced as part of a £1bn investment in city centre infrastructure improvements, to make sure that buses - the most widely used form of public transport across the city - can move efficiently and more quickly along one of Europe's busiest bus routes. They are helping to create a greatly improved, safer, cleaner environment for people walking, cycling and travelling into Manchester city centre by bus.
"The bus gates are clearly signed to make motorists aware of the alternative routes in place and the vast majority of drivers are complying with the change. The number of motorists driving into the prohibited zone is very low compared to the volume of traffic which used this road prior to the introduction of bus gates, which proves their effectiveness.
"To ensure maximum awareness among local motorists, we ran an extensive radio and digital advertising campaign, starting last April. We also worked with Transport for Greater Manchester to fully inform local businesses ahead of the change and issued 26,000 warning letters to motorists before bus gate enforcement began.
"An extensive public consultation was held before the introduction of the Oxford Road bus priority scheme, which demonstrated widespread support. Local employers and road user groups were closely involved throughout the development of the scheme.
"We believe that the vast majority of penalty notices are being issued to motorists from outside of the city who are travelling to Manchester for the first time and following outdated sat nav routes. We have been in contact with the relevant companies, to ensure that their maps are updated.
"Any suggestion that the bus gates have been adopted as a revenue-raising measure is entirely false. Revenues from penalty notices cannot be used to support general council budgets and can only be reinvested in schemes to improve Manchester's highways.