More than 12,000 fines issued at Weston-Super-Mare bus gates
That's the equivalent to 38 cars every day wrongly going through the designated bus lanes
Last updated 15th Jun 2024
Over 12,000 penalty charge notices have been issued to cars going through the bus hub in Weston-super-Mare in the year since it opened, a freedom of information request by a local man has revealed.
Cameras to catch drivers were switched on from May 23 last year and the first non-warning notice was issued on June 29.
This was then followed by 12,052 more over the next eleven months, in the period up to May 12 this year — a number that equates to 38 fines a day.
The figures were revealed after Stephen Mainwaring noticed he almost always saw a car go through the hub when he crossed the street at lunchtime each day, and he decided to send a freedom of information request to the council.
He said: “I see one a day for the minute or two that I cross the road then there must be dozens and dozens each day and so it is!”
The fine for going in the bus lane is £35 if paid within the first 21 days, but £70 if paid later, meaning the council could have made between £422k and £844k from the bus gate so far — easily paying off the £177k it cost to put in place.
Mr Mainwaring said: “This is a big money spinner for the council. They said that the PCNs will pay for the installation and running costs, and that any surplus will be used to maintain the roads. That should not be the purpose of the bus gate.
“The bus gate should be there to prevent cars from driving and parking in an area where there are many pedestrians and cyclists in the road, and where buses are manoeuvring.”
He added: “If the whole purpose of the bus gate is to stop cars driving down it then clearly it is not working, because each and every day 37 cars are doing so.”
He added that he thought the signage for drivers coming up Walliscote road and going though the bus gate by the Odeon Cinema was particularly easy to miss.
Over 10k of the 12k fines were for people entering the bus gate from this direction, with just 1.5k being fined for entering the bus gate from the entrance opposite the Red Admiral.
A spokesperson for North Somerset Council said: “In May 2022, we introduced a new bus gate/hub and lane in central Weston-super-Mare as well as started to enforce an existing bus gate at Worle Queensway Centre. A period of warning notice was issued prior to full enforcement which started in June 2022.
“Most bus gate entrances have one advance sign and then a further sign at the entrance with ‘Bus Gate’ markings on the road. The Council is keen to promote more bus and active travel use in order to support North Somerset becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Bus gates also reduce the amount of traffic in an area making it safer for pedestrians whilst allowing buses to flow more easily.
“In Walliscote Road, we have added more advanced bus gate signage from both ways. There is also further signage at the mini-roundabout pointing motorists away from the bus gate. The Independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal Service has described the current signage as ‘substantial’.
“Bus Lane Penalty Charge Notice receipts are used primarily to fund the council’s costs of administering the enforcement scheme. Any surplus receipts are contributed to the funding of delivering the supported bus services within our public transport provision.”